


Toy Soldier Helmets

by BelleFlorence



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama & Romance, F/F, G!P fic, War, soldier fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-20
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 10:23:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 48,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6607237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BelleFlorence/pseuds/BelleFlorence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma Swan is a U.S. Navy SEAL sniper, Regina Mills the mayor of our lovely Storybrooke town; both meet in Boston through a marine celebration, they have a night stand that completely changes their lives. - When Emma comes back from the field again she will get the news she has a baby son. - This fic is focused a lot on Emma's struggles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Soldier At Heart

  


  


# Chapter 1: Soldier at heart

**Battlefield**

“Two girls on the east side, going straight your way. Can you confirm?” Emma swan communicated through the radio.

_“Negative. You know the regulation, it’s your call. Over.”_ Another man’s voice replayed through the radio.

“You know how it goes, ma’am. If you are wrong about this, they’ll send your ass back to Boston’s base and there will be things dirty waiting to be cleaned.” Peter finished his words with a chuckle as he laid on the dirty ground of a roof on a building.

Emma Swan took a deep breath as she kept her attention focused on the target and her finger leaned against the trigger. “Shut up, Pan.” Emma said but with no rude intentions. She was laying in her position for two hours now with one of the newest recruits, Peter. He seemed very young for somebody eighteen years old, so the guys decided to nickname him Peter Pan. 

Pan was right, if she killed those girls, and if they were just civilians, she’d be in deep trouble with her superiors and it wouldn’t only involve cleaning. “Her arms aren’t swinging; she’s definitely carrying something.” Emma mumbled those words to Peter. When her eye noticed that one of the girls seemed to be taking out grenade, she quickly reported it through the radio. “They seem to have a grenade, hang back and be ready.” 

_“Alright. You better make that call right and quick, Swan.”_ The same man’s voice reported back.

“Oh shit, a fucking grenade?” Peter exclaimed as he took out his binoculars to see it better.

Emma had to make the call and she had to make it now, or else her mates would be in deep trouble if that was indeed a grenade; she took a deep breath and kept a better firm hold on her weapon. 

* * *

**_Flashback – 15 years ago_ **

_“Make the shot, Swan.” The man that was her superior at military academy and also the closest she had as a father figure, spoke._

_“But sir-“ Emma’s still thin teen voice spoke as she was at the woods over a large rock and holding her gun with the supporter underneath it._

_“Make. The. Shot.” The man said again._

_“But sir it’s just an anim-“ She was trying to explain she didn’t feel like it was right to kill down a deer._

_“We are hunting, Swan. Make the shot!” This time he shouted and that was when Emma finally pulled the trigger, killing the deer right away._

_Emma gasped when the noise of the gun being shot invaded her ears and the pressure of being fired was against her slim shoulder and skinny hands._

_“Nice shot.” The man said proudly as he was now approaching the animal to see where his recruit hit._

_Emma was still slightly shaken by what just happen but she still followed her superior._

_When they got close to the deer they noticed that Emma’s shot hit the deer right on the head. “Wonderful, recruit Swan, just wonderful. Clean and perfect.” The man pointed out with a grin as he inspected the deer._

_Emma looked at the deer and saw what she did, the all scared and guilty feelings were still there but there was part of her that felt proud of what she did, because she could hear how proud her superior was of her and he was an important figure in her life._

_“Swan, the real soldier is the man who fights even though he’s scared.”_

_“Like a hero?” Emma asked as she looked up at him with green big eyes._

_“There’s no hero in the battlefield, Swan. Only men who are determined to defend their country and what they love.” The man placed his palm over blonde thin straight hair and rubbed the teen’s head. “Never forget that, never let your pride make a fool of yourself.” He then poked the teen’s chest where the heart would be. “You are a soldier at heart, you fight where you are told, and win where you fight. Just doing your duty.”_

_Emma watched and listened to his words like he was the wisest man in earth and for her he was indeed that kind of person. “Yes, sir!”_

_**End of flashback** _

* * *

_Just doing my duty._ Emma thought for herself as she finally made the call and shot the girl who was walking up to the path where her comrades were with their tank; the girl simple fell dead on the ground, dropping the large grenade, the other girl shouted and ran to where the dead body was but only to pick up the grenade and throw it towards the soldiers; the very moment Emma saw the girl throwing the grenade she shot her dead too and now she breathed heavily because she hoped that the grenade didn’t harm any of the soldiers when it exploded.

_“Nice shot, Swan. It was the right call.”_ The man said through the radio and Emma felt like she could breathe again.

“Aww, neat.” Peter chuckled lowly as he witnessed everything through the binoculars.

_“You can retreat now, Swan, order from the top. We will continue investigate this road and then we shall meet you at the base, I owe you a cold beer.”_ The man chuckled

“I’ll hold you to that, Jones.” Emma responded through her radio before take one final glance at the road, making sure there would be no second surprises, and then turned her head at Peter who was now playing with a rock on the ground. “Let’s go, Pan. Maybe next time you can actually do something.”

Peter stopped poking the rock before look up at his superior. “Ha, ha. I am working here. I’ve got your back.”

“Clearly my back is as protected as that rock.” Emma chuckled as she started fixing her weapon. “Now get ready and let’s hope the journey back is quiet.”

“Aye, aye, captain!”

* * *

**Base – Tents**

“Swan! Bloody hell, mate. You are like a hawk at the field!” Killian Jones finally showed up at the large tent and threw his arm around the blonde woman’s strong neck, giving her a strong hug.

“Just doing my job.” Emma chuckled before push Killian away.

“You keep like that and you will be at the lethal sniper’s board.” Now it was Jefferson’s turn to speak as he showed up behind Jones with four beers in his hands, two in each.

“There’s a board?” Pan asked as he approached the group, hoping he could bound more with the ‘cool ones’.

“Guys, it doesn’t really matter, it’s my duty.” Emma shrugged as she took one of the beers Jefferson was holding.

“Ay, our Swan here is a modest lad!” Jones laughed out loud as he took a beer as well.

“Either way, you are doing an excellent job, Emma.” Jefferson replayed as he gave Pan a beer since the young man wasn’t sure if it was indeed for him.

“Guys, guys, guys!” August shouted as he stepped into the tent, meeting up with the rest of the group.

“Jeez, Pinocchio, we hear ya’.” Jones complained as he looked up at the other man.

“Hey, call me that again and I am cutting off your hand!” August complained as he clenched his fist.

“I want to see you try!” Jones shouted back; they both seemed to be ready to jump at each other and start fighting, but they were just messing around.

So in couple of seconds they were both chuckling and just shaking their heads. “Anyway, the alpha team just took down the second base!”

“No way!” Jefferson gasped.

“Wowo!!” Pan cheered.

“Ah, mate’s lyin’ again.” Jones pointed out. “Ya’ nose might get bigger.”

“You are pushing it, Jones!” August frowned at him.

Emma rolled her eyes with a chuckle as she decided to interfere their fight again. “But are you serious though? They really took down the second base? Did they also kill the second-in-command asshole?” She asked.

“Hell yeah!!” August nodded.

“So you for real? Do y’all know what this means?!” Jones now looked at the rest of the group.

“What?” Pan asked since the rest knew what it meant.

“We going home shortly for a celebration!” Jones rose his beer like he was cheering something.

“Huh?” Pan perked up an eyebrow, not wanting to get his hopes up about going back home.

“We are taking a break, boy!” August pointed out as he slapped Pan’s back hard.

“Let’s cheer!!” Jones shouted and shot his hand up again with the beer, waiting for everybody else do the same thing.

They all slammed their beer bottles together, completely forgetting how strong and excited they were, so some beer was spilled over them but they could careless, all they could think about was to just go home and take a break. They were involved in the battle to take down the first base, and the general to motivate them said those all involved in those battles would be rewarded if they succeeded, and it was time to get their reward.

* * *

**Two weeks later – Restaurant**

They never thought their reward would also involve meeting the Boston’s mayor and have a formal dinner party being thrown in their honour. Of course most were excited and feeling special about this, because there were also those ones who liked to shine, but Emma knew her group of closest friends only wanted to finish this dinner and just hit their favourite bar later and drink the night away. They even made a deal before which involved not getting laid tonight because tonight would they will only be focused on their celebration and it would be only about them.

But Emma was pretty sure that she would break that rule when her eyes landed on a beautiful brunette woman that looked like could be the mayor’s wife because least how she dressed, but Emma was dead hoping she wasn’t.

“Hey, Swan, whatcha up to?” Jefferson showed up besides Emma as he was holding his glass of wine; they both stood there in their blue suits and white hat tucked underneath their arm.

“Enjoying the view.” Emma replayed as she took a sip from her white wine and kept her green eyes on the brunette who seemed to be happily chatting with the mayor. “Do you think she’s the mayor’s wife?”

Jefferson perked up an eyebrow as he looked at the same woman. “Breaking our deal already?” Jefferson chuckled. “Oh god no, don’t let the mayor’s wife hear you.” He took another sip from his wine. “From what the gossip I’ve caught in this room, she’s another mayor, from a smaller town in Maine or whatever. She’s one of the mayor’s friends."

“I see.” Emma mumbled as she kept watching the other woman like she was a prey.

Jefferson rolled his eyes. “Swan just go introduce yourself, I’ll keep the guys distracted so they don’t know what you up to.”

“This is why I love you so much.” Emma grinned and fist bumped her friend’s chest.

“I highly doubt I have what you want, Ems.” Jefferson chuckled before turn around and go find the rest of the group.

Emma placed her glass away and fixed her suit before take a deep breath and finally decided to approach the brunette when she noticed the woman was alone because the mayor excused himself to go speak with another soldiers. “Hello.”

Regina Mills was thinking about get herself a glass of apple cider if there was any; she felt thirsty after having a non-stop conversation with her old friend, who was also a mayor and the one who invited her to this celebration of their soldiers. – She was not expecting have a blonde woman in a suit, greet her. “Hello.” She replayed in the politest way and also no trying to sound too lost and curious.

“I am Emma Swan. Are you enjoying the dinner?” Emma asked with a small smile and remained with her usual rigid soldier posture.

“Regina Mills.” Regina replayed but didn’t move since the other woman didn’t go for the usual handshake. “Yes, I am. It’s actually my first time in this kind of celebration, I was invited by my old friend, the mayor of this town.”

“I figured.”

“Pardon me?”

“I figured this would be your first time because I’d never miss out such beauty like you.”

And now Regina was taken back by such charm, most of the times she’d think the other person would only be annoying flirting with her and she’d dismiss them but this Emma Swan got her interest. Maybe it was because she was a strong woman in the Navy, or maybe there was just something about her that she found interesting. “Why thank you, aren’t you charming.”

Emma chuckled and simple shrugged as she removed the hat underneath her arm and placed her hands behind her back, still holding the hat. “Excuse my boldness, but I was taught to just tell somebody how beautiful they are, no matter what kind of embarrassing and awkward consequences there might be.”

“Well your boldness was welcomed.” Regina said with a polite smile.

“I am glad.” Emma took a deep breath as she looked around. “Care to join me for a drink outside? I heard this place owns a splendid terrace.”

Regina considered this, there was absolutely nothing she could lose by just going for the drink, plus she figured she wouldn’t be entertained for a while because the mayor is very busy with everybody else. “I don’t see why not.” She rose her chin slightly.

“Great.” Emma smiled brightly. “Ladies first.” Emma nodded her head forward, pointing her the way.

“You are a lady as well, Miss Swan.” Regina commented as she turned around, heading to the terrace.

“Not as charming and lady-like like you. I am a brutish woman, so I have got your back.”

“My back?” Regina perked up an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder for a second.

“Yes, lure the enemies ahead and I’ll be there to take them down if they try anything.” Emma smirked at her.

And Regina just shook her head with a chuckle, carrying on with her steps.

**......**

Regina so far wasn’t regretting on agreeing to have this drink with the marine woman, she was indeed enjoying her time because the flirting wasn’t annoying and constant, they were now simple chatting away through the night and looking at the wonderful view the restaurant provided at their terrace. “So what made you join the Navy?” Regina asked as she tilted her head to the side and turned it slightly to look at the blonde woman besides her.

“My whole life was planned for this.” Emma answered with a simple shrug as she took a sip from her apple cider, something she decided to try out because Regina said they were great and she’d have one as well.

“How so?” Regina perked up an eyebrow. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“It’s fine.” Emma smiled. “I was already in a military academy since little, so I carried on.”

“I see.” Regina looked down at the liquid in her glass, not completely sure what was her opinion about military academies. “And do you regret it? The choice of carrying on with this lifestyle, I mean.”

“Never.” Emma quickly replayed. “I love what I do, I love serving my country and I don’t see myself doing anything else.” She stated proudly.

Regina was sure she saw green eyes shining once she looked back up at the blonde woman. “That’s wonderful.” She simple replayed with a small smile.

“I think so.” Emma shrugged. “And you know there’s always the fun part...”

And Emma decided to spend their time telling Regina the all funny moments she had with her friends; making sure she’d get wonderful and big laughs from this beautiful woman.

* * *

**Hotel – Regina’s Room**

One drink, lead to two, then to three, then to shots, then to a kiss which lead to desire and now here they are in Regina’s hotel room, ready to feed their lust. Emma was making sure her kisses would let the brunette woman know how much she desired her and her gropes on the curvy body let her know how much she was wanted.

She just wanted to lead this woman to the extreme so she wouldn’t step back when she finds out Emma isn’t like any ordinary woman.

* * *

**_Flashback – 17 years ago_ **

_“Sir, why I am different?” An eleven-year-old Emma asked to her superior as she sat on a bench outside the military academy._

_“What do you mean, recruit?” The man asked._

_“I saw the other girls’ bodies; they are not like mine.” Emma shrugged as she looked down at her own feet._

_“Child, nobody ever explained it to you?”_

_Emma kept quiet and frowned._

_The man thought deeply about what to say and opted for a better choice. “Everybody’s different, recruit. You just happen to be more different than them, but that’s what will make you a great soldier, don’t forget that. Everything happens for a reason and I am sure you will make the best of it.”_

_The little Swan still didn’t completely buy it but she figured it was the best way to face it. “But how will this make me strong?”_

_“Child it’s not that will make you strong, but the things that will come with it.”_

_“I don’t understand, sir.”_

_“One day you will, Swan; and you will be stronger from facing so many challenges."_

_“Will I beat it?”_

_“Of course, recruit! You are going to be a great soldier! A soldier who wins any fight!”_

_And little Emma smiled proudly, actually believing she would indeed face and overcome whatever life threw at her._

_**End of flashback** _

* * *

Regina moaned and almost rolled her eyes to the back of her head by the wonders the soldier’s lips against her ear and her firm hands on the right places. “Just take me.” Regina whispered as she looked deep into green eyes and bit down on her plump red lower lip.

“Listen...” Emma was about to explain something incredibly important about her body, but Regina was just too busy unbuttoning her suit. “Hey-“ Emma tried once again, but Regina had managed to slide her hands underneath the white shirt and grip onto her breasts, making Emma groan and whisper the word ‘fuck’.

“Less talk.” Regina demanded as she was trying to focus on her task which was to get the other woman naked as quick as possible, not caring about what she was going to say. She was drunk and her body was on fire, she needed sex and now.

“Oh shit Regina...” Emma groaned again when in a second the brunette woman had thrown her jacket and shirt away and was now sucking on her nipple by pulling the bra down. Everything was heaven till Emma felt Regina’s hand going down to her pants and when she was sure her fingertips were already inside her pants, she quickly grabbed her wrist and removed her hand. “Wait- no…” Emma breathed heavily.

Now Regina was lost, she was drunk and she didn’t want to keep waiting, but having Emma remove her hand felt like rejection and the brunette wasn’t really in the mood to be rejected. “What is it? I thought this was what you wanted?” She frowned slightly and looked up confused at the soldier.

“It is, it really goddamn is but listen…” Emma licked her lips to moist them as she took another deep breath, already feeling her boner tight against her suit pants. “I don’t-…I am different, okay? I don’t have the normal female anatomy…” She did her best to keep the explanation short and simple, not wanting to come with big words and make their situation more awkward than it already was.

Confused and drunk Regina was even more confused, but if she was honest with herself, she could careless with what Emma had between her legs. She wanted the release and she was going to get it. “I don’t care…” She whispered and started unbuttoning the other woman’s pants.

“But Regin-“ Emma was trying to make the other woman understand her better, she didn’t know how to take her alcohol. She was very drunk, more than Emma, so she was sure Regina wasn’t completely aware of what Emma really meant; however when Emma was naked waist down she was sure Regina would just look at her disgusted and kick her out, but all she felt was just a warm soft palm wrapped against her big well erected cock. “Oh Jesus Christ...” Emma gasped and looked down at the brunette’s hand.

Regina smirked and leaned forward having her lips only brushing thin ones. “My name’s Regina...but whatever suits you dear…” She said cockily as she started to pump her hand up and down making sure she was doing her best to give the soldier a great handjob.

“Oh god...Regina...” Emma finally acted and grabbed the brunette’s hips quickly picking her up and let her wrap her legs around her waist as she carried her towards the bed. When her knees hit the mattress, she turned around and slowly sat down over the white sheets as she carried on making out with the beautiful plump red lips.

Regina settled better on the blonde’s lap and began to grind against the soldier’s boner, feeling her own panties already all wet as she fought for dominance with her tongue in the kiss they were both sharing.

Emma sneaked her hands up on the other woman’s back and tried to find the zipper from the dress. When she was sure she got it she quickly unzipped it and began to remove it from her shoulders letting it fall all around her waist. “Hot...” Emma commented as she looked now at breasts covered with black lace bra, but obviously that had to go. So in two seconds she removed her bra and launched her lips forward to suck on brown nipples.

Regina threw her head back and let out a loud moan when she felt warm lips and wet tongue against her nipples. She made sure to still keep with her grinding, gaining low groans from the other woman that slightly vibrated against her breasts. “I need more…” Regina whispered and pressed her palms against bare strong shoulders, making Emma fall back as she decided to just remove the last pieces of the clothing she was wearing.

Emma remained with her back against the bed but slightly raised her head to watch Regina taking off her clothes which was just incredible hot, but Emma was not expecting having Regina literally jump on her. “Oh fuck!” Emma gasped when she felt the all sudden weight on top of her, while Regina just began with a loud cheerful laugh that could warm up anybody’s heart, it even made Emma stop and just watch the other woman laughing as she got with a goofy smile upon her face. “You are unbelievable...”

“Thank you, dear, I have been told.” Regina grinned and then pressed her lips harshly against thin ones as she started hungrily kiss the blonde while sneaking her palm between their bodies and get a hold of the blonde’s dick. Then she just began to guide it to her pussy that was just begging for a good release. She rubbed the soldier’s dick against her wet lips first before finally allowing it to enter. She gasped once the tip was inside and when she allowed her body to go down so the all shaft would be inside her she let out a throaty groan, very pleased with the size.

Emma moaned into their kiss when she felt Regina’s juices against her dick. When she finally thrusted inside her, Emma felt like she was going to heaven. The feeling was just incredible, Regina was so wet yet so tight that Emma couldn’t allow herself to take this slow so she reached for the tan hips on top of her to switch their positions. But Regina just shook her index finger in front of her in the most seductive way possible and grinned, revealing those white perfect sharp teeth.

“Dear, this is my ride.” Regina chuckled lowly and pressed her palms against strong abs under her and used that to support herself while she began to move herself up and down, enjoying how good this woman’s dick felt inside her. If somebody ever told her she’d have sex with a woman she would admit it could happen but a woman with a penis? Well that was a whole different story.

Emma watched Regina doing the job by herself and she couldn’t exactly complain because the feeling was just wonderful. So good that made her own hips move at their own will, so she met up with Regina’s thrusts, making sure she’d go deeper and harder than before. – There was just something so exotic about this woman that Emma wasn’t even sure what it actually was. Despite her condition, Emma had a fair amount of women in her life. Well, a lot were just chicks picked at bars and she’d lie if she didn’t admit she used prostitutes before, but she was sure at least one of them had a better body than Regina, yet this woman was just so breath-taking for Emma with no apparent reason.

Regina’s moans were getting louder and with less pauses between them, mostly because Emma’s thrusts were meeting up with her own, and the pleasure became higher than before. The brunette wasn’t giving much thought about what they were doing, she was drunk, her mind wasn’t thinking much and her body wanted release, so she would finish this, have her desires full filled and then actually think about what she just did.

Their bodies kept moving like they were dancing the night away; Emma made sure to also pay attention to another part of the brunette’s body which was her breasts while Regina was more focused on her own pleasure by moving her hips faster till loud sounds of bare flesh smacking against each other could be heard; then the following sounds were just heavy breathing, loud moans and groans and then silence for a second…

Which was when both climaxed and allowed their bodies to enjoy the orgasm for seconds. Emma fell back on the bed with her arms dropped by her sides as Regina dropped her own body over the blonde’s and decided to stay there for a while till her breath came back to normal.

Little did they know one-night stand would change their lives forever.

 

* * *

**Two days later – Tents**

“Aww man, only three days off now back to work.” August groaned as he washed his face from a small bucket with water besides his bed.

“You know how it is.” Emma told him as she tied up her hair.

“Fuck, lads, I still think we deserved one more night.” Killian complained as he fixed his boots.

“Killian’s just mad cause his girl wanted a date first before getting laid.” Jefferson laughed as he drank his dark coffee.

“Bitches are fancy nowdays, aye. They all wantin’ a date first, that ain’t making ye any fancier, lass.” Killian continued complaining as Peter just laughed while the rest simple shook their heads with a smile.

“Better get your urges on check, Jones.” Emma commented.

“You shut up, Swan! You have no right in this conversation! Ye broke our deal and went to get laid on the very first day!” Killian pointed his finger at her.

“From what I heard she spent the three days at it.” Jefferson gossiped as he took a sip from his coffee.

“What?!” Killian gasped and quickly grabbed his boot before throw it at Emma. “I swear… you don’t know how lucky ya’ are!”

“Oww!” Emma groaned when the boot came in contact with her arm. “It wasn’t the three days! It was only the night, then the morning and then the next night, but that time I didn’t stay over because I got a call from somebody named Peter Pan that got his car stolen.” Now Emma eyed the younger soldier who seemed to be just enjoying the conversation till his car was mentioned.

“I don’t even know what happen! I just entered the restaurant to have dinner with my girlfriend and when I came back it was gone!” Peter groaned.

“Boy thought he was giving the keys to one of the guys that worked there but it was only some criminal hanging there, smart move…from the criminal.” Jefferson pointed out.

“Jeez, don’t you have bad luck, Pan.” August commented.

“Don’t even tell me about it.” Peter dropped his face at his hands.

“Either way, it’s time to get to work and worry about those things later.” Emma said as she stood up from her bed and put on her jacket. “Let’s go, Peter.” Emma ordered as she began to fist bump her pals as a way to say goodbye.

“’Kay.” Peter got his own attire and went after the blonde soldier so they could carry on with their duty.

“Gosh, I swear this Swan doesn’t know how lucky she is...she bangs a woman for almost two days straight and comes back to the field with the new promotion as ‘Chief Petty Officer’.” Killian shook his head at how unfair his life was being at him.

“Oh shut it, you are just butthurt you didn’t get laid.” Jefferson rolled his eyes as August let out a loud chuckle.

“Whatever, man.” Killian muttered.

Emma Swan was indeed happy with her new rank, she felt like she was succeeding even more in life, but she’d never let her pride get in the way, nor the memories of these few days out of duty interfere with her performance, she’d carry on with her life and act like it never happen.


	2. "Mommy Will do Her Best"

**Two weeks later - Storybrooke – Hospital**

Regina Mills did blood analyses every year because she’d rather be safe than sorry, but this year something was completely different because Dr. Whale insisted for her to come to his office, when usually he just sends the results to her secretary and she sees it for herself, because nobody wants to waste the mayor’s time, but if Whale insisted that much then it means it’s something very important and as much as Regina tells herself to never in her life lose control of a situation, she’s pretty much losing her cool about this since she just kept balancing on her heels, while everybody else was sitting down on the chairs because there were plenty.

“Miss Mills, please come in.” A nurse spoke from the door and Regina simple followed her, the nurse left her alone in the room with Dr. Whale.

“Ah, Madam Mayor, nice to see you.” 

“I wish I could say the same.” She replayed with an uneasy tone not really wanting to come off as rude but it would indeed be a pleasure to meet with him if it didn’t involve her health.

“I am sure, so..” Dr. Whale fixed his own white coat and adjusted himself in his chair while pointing at the one in front of him on the other side of the large desk to instruct her to sit down.

“I am fine, thank you.” Regina rose her left palm as a way to dismiss the suggestion and kept a rigid posture while holding tightly on the handles of her purse.

“Alright.” He rubbed his chin and cleared his throat. “I do not wish to alarm you, Madam Mayor, your blood results are completely fine.”

Now Regina was relieved but also a tad bit upset because he just wasted her time. “Then why I am here?”

“Well you see, when we paid attention to the hormones we realized they were different from the usual, so we went through it and we found out well...that you are pregnant.” 

Regina did not replay, she just stood there, completely shocked about this new, because there was no way she could be pregnant, first of all she was lesbian, she always has been despite few experiences back at college, but she’s a thirty-three-year-old woman now and all she has been doing lately were...well women, but she wasn’t even that sexual active, not since… _oh fuck_.

“I called you because I wasn’t sure if you knew about it since it’s on the early stages, just two weeks, we believe.” And he wasn’t going to also point out nobody knew about the Mayor’s love life, so he wondered how in hell the woman got pregnant, if it was in night stand then this town would have some dirty gossip around.

“Yo-..” The mayor cleared her throat to go back to her usual posture. “You are sure about this?”

“Yes, the results don’t tend to lie.” He let out a nervous chuckle, feeling like he’d feel the mayor’s wrath anytime soon.

“So if I were to confirm through a pregnancy test it’d come out positive?”

“Well, Madam Mayor, blood analyses work better than a pregnancy test but you can confirm it either way.”

“Yes, of course, how foolish of me.” She knew that was true, but she still couldn’t wait to get a pregnancy test and see it for herself.

“So, should we already date down your twelve-week scan? It’d be the first, and we will be able to measure the baby’s length, check the heart-beat and see if it’s just one or twins.” 

_Oh god no, no twins._ It was her first thought since she was still freaking about to even being pregnant. “I shall take care of that later, Dr Whale, right now I have an important meeting I can’t miss.” She lied through her teeth.

“Alright, we will be waiting.” Dr Whale nodded.

“Thank you, have a nice day.” Regina turned around to leave the room but he stopped her.

“Excuse me, Madam Mayor, I don’t know if it’s too bold to ask you the father may be?”

She had to clench her jaw and use every strength in her to not lash out at the man, he was noisy and it also pissed her off how he used the word ‘may’. “It’s indeed a bold question from you; my personal life is none of your business.” She looked over her shoulder at him.

“Well you are our Mayor..”

“And I’ll carry on with my duties as nothing changed, my personal life has nothing to do with it.”

“Have a nice day, Madam Mayor.” Dr Whale simple dismissed the subject because it was obvious he wasn’t getting anything from her that could turn into a dirty dark secret.

“You too, Frank.” She almost barked before leave the room and the hospital and figure out what the hell to do next.

* * *

**Regina’s Mansion**

“Mal, Kat...I need you two, right now.” Regina tried to not stutter while facetiming her best friends.

Kat perked up an eyebrow and Mal looked at her younger sister before look back at her phone to Regina. _“Is everything alright, dear?”_

“No.” She finally admitted and bit down her lower lip. “Everything’s just a big mess and I need you two here.” She almost sobbed.

Both blonde sisters looked worried at their friend when they realized it was really bad. _“Alright, girl, we will be there in twenty.”_ Kat informed.

“Thank you..” She took a deep breath before gulp and get the courage to ask. “Please, get me a pregnancy test on the way.” Then she quickly hung up not wanting to deal with further questioning because she knows the ‘interrogation’ will start when her friends show up.

**......**

And that was what they did when they arrived thirty minutes after their call. “Regina, care to explain us what is it now?” Mal asked as she approached her brunette friend and Kat tagged along with a small plastic bag.

“And here’s your pregnancy test..” Kat mumbled as she eyed her friend and handed the bag. “It says how long you have been and stuff.”

“Thank you.” It was all Regina said before grab the bag and just storm to her bathroom.

“The hell?” Kat perked up an eyebrow and looked at her older sister who simple shrugged. “Let’s wait and see, she will have to explain us.” Mal said.

**......**

Regina spent thirty-five minutes in the bathroom, the blonde sisters were already tired of waiting and decided to serve themselves a glass of cider, but the all waiting was getting extremely boring. “Regina, what about yo-“ Before Kat could start complaining, Regina finally opened the door of her bathroom and stepped outside, she looked a casual mess; with messy hair, messed-up makeup from crying and slightly lighter from her usual colour.

“It’s positive.” She mumbled as she held up the positive pregnancy test so her friends could see.

They both leaned closer to check it and they both gasped at the same time. “Wow..” Mal mumbled. “So our ‘Gina’s pregnant?” Kat smiled before look up at her friend, who seemed to not be happy with the result. 

“What’s the real problem here?” Mal frowned and folded her arms. “Did the guy ditched you? Cause if so Kat and I can track him down and deal with him.”

Regina chewed on her bottom lip and simple shook her head as she kept her view down. “It’s not even a guy.” She let out a small chuckle like she couldn’t even believe it either.

* * *

**Iraq – Roof of a building**

“Heey, Swan, can I talk to you about something?” Peter asked as he was playing pokemon through his old Gameboy, it was moments like this he’d appreciate the old batteries.

“Depends.” Emma mumbled as she remained laying on her tummy while holding her weapon and checking the roads for enemies.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Peter frowned slightly as he almost pouted; he was safely lay down and had his back against the small wall the roof provided.

“It means if you are going to talk to me about something stupid, then don’t.” Emma chuckled lowly.

“Oh please, you love my stupid talks.”

“Sure.”

Peter rolled his eyes. “Anyway, you know my girl, right?”

“Huh, Wendy? The pretty petite girl?” Emma recalled seeing her when she went pick up Peter because of his stolen car. “You do know how fucked up it is for you have a girlfriend named Wendy?”

Peter frowned and nudged her thigh with his foot. “Stop mocking me!”

Emma laughed before shake her head slightly. “Alright, carry on.”

“Well she’s pregnant. Just got her letter this morning.” Peter burled out.

“Whoa..congrats?”

“Not really.” Peter wrinkled his nose at that.

“Why’s that?”

“Because we are young?” Peter stated like it was the most obvious thing ever.

“True..”

“And I just don’t know…how am I supposed to control this kind of thing? I am a marine, I don’t have other studies but just high school, I can’t find a decent job for a family just with that.”

“Then go study.”

“I am dumb as fuck, Ems.” Peter sighed out.

“How so? You come up with intelligent topics at times, of course with your stupid conversations it makes me think you have nothing in your brain..”

“Stop!” Peter whined but chuckled along.

Emma chuckled as well and shook her head slightly. “I am just saying, you should think about it, Peter. Finish these assignments then go home and figure out your life.”

“Easy for you to say..” 

“Well yeah, but you have to do something, you ain’t leaving that girl alone with a baby.” Now she stopped paying attention to what she was doing to look Peter dead in the eye and make sure he wasn’t going to come up with that douche move.

“No, never. I won’t leave her alone it’s just…” Peter groaned before drop his head to the side. “What would you do if you were in my shoes?”

“Stay in the marine.” She easily answered.

“Then why are you making me go study.” Peter frowned.

She sighed and took a time to have a serious conversation with him. “Because unlike you I don’t have the usual high school studies, I have been in the military academy since I was eleven, I don’t know other lifestyle but this one, I honestly can’t see myself doing anything else.”

“I still don’t see why I gotta study.” Peter eyed her.

“Because you are just a kid, Peter. You still got your life ahead that just got a bit ruined by a child, but you will handle it, as long as you leave this, get a job and get a degree, then find a better job and give your kid the best life ever.” 

“But that’s so hard, all of those at once?” Peter whined.

“Dude, life ain’t easy, you gotta man up sometimes and face the challenges, trust me later on it will all be paid off.” 

“I don’t know..” Peter looked back at his gameboy. “I’ll think about it.”

“Just do the right thing.” She reminded him and carried on with her duty.

* * *

**Back at Regina’s Mansion**

“Wow…so you got pregnant by a woman…a marine woman…a marine woman with a penis…on a nightstand?” Kat tried to proceed.

“Why don’t you be subtler, huh?” Mal rose her eyebrows at her sister before shake her head. “Do you remember her name?”

“I was only drunk the night.” Regina answered as she tucked her legs underneath her while sitting on the couch.

“Wait, so, only the night? That means you spent more time with her?” Kat asked.

“I spent the next day, at the hotel, then she left.” Regina explained.

“Care to explain what you two did on the next day?” Kat wiggled her eyebrows as Mal elbowed her.

“I am pretty sure we both know what they did.” Mal almost barked at her sister. “So you do know her name?”

“Yes, Emma Swan.” Regina answered as she looked down at her hot tea cup.

“Emma Swan..” Kat tasted the name on her tongue. “So that’s all you know about her? Her name and that she’s a marine?” Regina nodded, and Kat simple clapped her hands together. “Then it can’t be hard find a marine named Emma Swan.”

“Guys..” Regina started before let out a heavy sigh as she rubbed her forehead.

“What, don’t tell me you won’t go find this woman and tell her?” Mal now was the one being noisy; Regina didn’t replay at first, so both sisters stared at her with a ‘are you serious’ look.

“Regina, if you want to raise the kid alone that’s fine, but I am pretty sure this Emma Swan has the right to know.” Kat said.

“It was just one night stand..” Regina pointed out.

“That got you pregnant.” Mal added.

“Yup, so you gotta find this woman and tell her. Maybe you are lucky and you will the all support.” Kat shrugged.

“I don’t even know what to do..” Regina admitted with tears in her eyes.

“Oh, dear…” Mal stood up and sat down beside her friend before wrap her arm around her. “We are right here for you, we will help you through everything, alright?” Mal kissed her forehead.

“Yes, we will help you raise this little bean.” Kat approached and poked Regina’s belly before wrap her arm around her as well. “The trio back in action.” She laughed which gained a small chuckle from her brunette friend and that was enough for them; now it was all about baby steps.

* * *

**8 months later – Mal’s place**

“I think I am ready to contact her.” Regina admitted to her friend as she was sitting on the couch and robbing her 34 weeks belly, she even felt her little boy kicking her, which made her smile while thinking about such troublesome subject.

“Oh?” Mal approached her and gave her a cup of tea. “I am glad you finally made that decision, Regina. It was about time.” Mal chuckled lowly as Regina simple rolled her eyes with a forced smile.

“Well, she’s biological the other mother so…she does have the right to know.”

“I still don’t know why you were so insecure about telling her, other than.. well the normal reasons.”

“Because she’s..” Regina shrugged and finally gave in. “I once watched on the TV every time a soldier comes home he has more chances to be at risk, and they said having children can also interfere with their duty because they are more self-conscious about their family and who they are leaving behind if they die.”

“First of all, let me stop you right there…I am surprised you watch TV.” Mal smirked at her as Regina punched her shoulder lightly. “Secondly, I know what you mean, you don’t want to put her at risk? Well that’s very kind of you, I think pregnancy is doing wonders on you.”

“Mal.” Regina warned her with a frown but she was just fooling around.

“I am just saying, dear.” Mal chuckled. “Also you know what they say never marry a military…” Now she pressed her lips together and brought her shoulders up for a second. “As rude as it can sound I wouldn’t judge if you thought like that, not everybody has the courage to be a military wife.”

“I am not even her girlfriend, let alone wife.” Regina let out a dry chuckle as she took a sip from her tea. “I am sure she doesn’t even remember me.”

“Oh baby girl, it’s hard to forget somebody like you.” Mal grinned as she winked at Regina.

“You are such a tease.” Regina rolled her eyes while smiling. “I just…I don’t know, even if I tell her and if she wants to help me raise him, how does that leave me in long term? How does that affect Henry’s life?” Regina sighed. “I just want to protect my son and not let any sadness get him, having a marine mother surely won’t be easy for him.” 

“I understand your concern.” Mal tilted her head to the side. “I know you just want to do what’s best for Henry, but you can’t forget when he grows older he will be very curious about his other parent.”

“Yes, I know.” Regina just began to chew on the inside of her cheek as she drummed her fingernails against the mug she was holding.

“Either way, he will always have you, Regina, you are going to be the best mom, so he will be fine.” Mal comforted her friend.

“I hope so.” She smiled sadly as she looked down at her belly.

“Okay, let’s do some research!” Mal suggested as she went get her laptop. “And find out where this Emma Swan is at.”

Regina simple nodded and watched her friend; she still had doubts about this, but it was something she needed to do, at least her conscious would be less heavy and she’d get an answer right away, to know if she’d raise Henry alone or not.

* * *

**1 week later – Park ******

“So still no luck?” Kat asked as she was sitting on a bench with her friend, as they drank a hot chocolate.

Regina sighed out with a frown. “No, every time I call the base they say they can’t get any contact right now but when they do get contact they’d call me.”

“And they didn’t call..” Kat wrinkled her nose at that.

“I will try call them later today and see.” Regina said with a shrug as she placed her hot chocolate aside, she only took a small sip from it and didn’t want it anymore.

“I hope you get an answer this time.” Kat elbowed her friend’s arm gently. “But anyway, how’s little Henry?!” Kat now smiled brightly as she placed her palm over Regina’s big belly, caressing it softly.

“Moving a lot.” Regina kind of groaned because today her son seemed to be more active than ever. “He has always been very active, sometimes I think he’s kickboxing inside me.” Regina chuckled along with Kat.

“Yea, on that part you don’t got your mommy’s genes.” Kat commented as she now felt the baby’s strong kicks against her hand.

Despite the situation Regina still smiled at that because sometimes it was good to have this fantasy in your mind that when she gets home there will be a partner waiting for her and help her raise Henry, especially if that partner is Emma Swan; she only spent a night and a day with the blonde, but there was clearly something between them or else Regina wouldn’t still wake up with a smile on her face and enjoy the day with a blonde woman, even though she spent the entire just eating, watching TV and have sex till she was completely sore; she used condoms through that entire day, so she thought she had used the night before as well, she was so drunk she didn’t remember much.

Kathryn just kept feeling the kicks till they sudden stopped and she thought the baby boy was finally resting and giving his mother’s body a break.

“Oh god, Kathryn..” Regina whispered before look down at herself and make sure of what she was really feeling. “My water just broke…” 

“What?!” Kat gasped as she quickly stood up from the bench and looked down at her brunette friend. “Ok, no worries, how close are your contractions?” She said as she started picking up her stuff.

“Not that close..” Regina told her on the exact moment she felt a contraction, so she decided to start counting the time right now between them. “But Kat…I am only on my 35 week, it’s too soon.” Now she looked up at her friend with terrifying watery eyes.

“Regina, calm down, okay? The world is full of premature babies who are completely fine.” Kat was doing her best to calm her friend down, while she didn’t try to freak out as well. “Let’s go, I refuse to have this baby in the park, the ground is just dirty.” She tried to ease the panic. 

Regina agreed and she was just hoping everything would be alright with her child.

* * *

**Iraq – Tents**

“Swan, get over here!” The Lieutenant shouted out for the blonde marine.

“Yes, sir?” Emma stepped closer to the table full of other superiors.

“Sit.” The Lieutenant instructed.

Emma nodded and sat down on the empty chair as she tried to keep a good posture, wondering what there was to come.

“We have sad news, Swan.” One of them said.

“Chief David died two nights ago.” The Lieutenant simple stated.

And Emma felt like her world was about to crumble down for a simple reason, Chief David was the only parent decent figure she ever had in her life, he was the one who helped her through the military academy, hell he was the one who made the great soldier she’s today. “He-..” She cleared her throat, trying to keep it together. “How?”

“He was already sick, Swan. Heart failure.” 

“Oh fuck…” Emma cursed under her breath as she pressed her palms against her face and rubbed it, trying to control the tears that were treating to come, she didn’t want to cry in front of her superiors.

“We know how important he was to you, so we are giving you two weeks off; go to his funeral, talk to his family or simple mourn.” The Lieutenant knew that deaths were always hard for anybody, but for a man like him who spent his entire life facing deaths and watching mates also die, he sounded rather cold with his words, but he was doing his best to do the right thing.

“Yes, sir..” Emma simple mumbled as she removed her hands from her face and rubbed them together while biting down on her lower lip; she already went through several funerals because of her fellow soldier comrades, but they were never close enough to her to really hurt, in fact only recently she started to open up about letting people get close to her heart, that’s why she has those circle of tight friends.

“After that two weeks, we want you at your best, Swan. There will be a special mission waiting for you.” The Lieutenant informed.

“Yes, sir.” This time she said it more firmly.

“You are dismissed. Pack up, you can leave tomorrow morning.” 

“Thank you, sir.” She stood up and left the tent, to get fresh air and try wrap her mind around what just happen and control her emotions.

* * *

**Storybrooke's Hospital – Maine**

Regina feels like she has been living hell this past three weeks; her son is at NICU and she wants nothing but to just bring him home, the nurses did inform her that it wouldn’t take that long for him to go as long as he kept the good development he has been doing lately. – She was glad that now she could actually touch his tiny hands and she loved when he gripped tightly onto her pinky finger, like he was even trying to comfort her even though she was the mother. “Mommy loves you very much, Henry.” She whispered as she caressed his tiny fingers with her thumb softly while he held her pinky finger. – Her phone rang, but she ignored it, till it rang again and again and again, and she completely had enough, maybe it was urgent, Mal and Kat said that they would do the Mayor job while she spent time with Henry but there was always moments where she had to leave and go to her office just to check if they were doing the right work or to help them out with something they didn’t know.

“Yes, Mal? Please tell me you didn’t delete the records.” Regina said after picking up the call as she kept staring at her son with a big smile because he opened his eyes and she hoped it was because of her voice.

 _“Regina, you won’t believe this!”_ It was Kat’s voice and that left Regina kind of confused and worried because Kat was clumsier than Mal.

“What’s wrong, Kat?”

 _“You should sit down first, dear.”_ Now it was Mal’s voice.

And Regina just thought they had completely ruined all the records and she’d have an angry mob after her soon. “What happened?” She still tried to keep her voice calm and smooth so her baby wouldn’t be scared.

 _“Okay, so remember when they told you they’d call you again if they got any information about Emma Swan? They just called your office and they said Emma Swan was in Boston for two weeks.”_ Kat informed.

“What?” Now Regina was indeed doing her best to not raise her voice, and her baby boy tighten his grip around her finger. “So she’s in Boston?”

 _“Nope.”_ Kat quickly said and that made Regina close her eyes for a second not sure if she was relieved or upset that she missed the chance to meet up with the blonde woman.

 _“She left last Saturday, back to the field, but we told them we wanted to still get in contact with her and obviously it went back to the vicious circle.”_ Mal huffed out. 

“So once again, I will have to wait for them to call me?” 

_“Pretty much, girl.”_ Kat replayed.

Regina wrinkled her nose at that before take a deep breath and relax her shoulders. “Alright.” She was still trying to process everything and figure what the hell she was going to do next.

 _“Anyways, how’s our little nephew?”_ Mal asked with a soft tone.

“He’s wonderful.” Regina replayed with a small smile. “I can’t wait to take him home and I was informed if he keeps up like this I can take him home this weekend.”

 _“That’s great!”_ Kat almost yelped. _“Okay, now we will leave you alone mama bear, we have to look through this sheriff reports, this man doesn’t know how to write well, Regina, you need somebody else to write this stuff.”_ Kat complained.

“I am very familiar with the Sheriff’s writing, I already told him to use the computer to type them down but the man just can’t get familiar with the technology.” 

_“The hell is wrong with that man? He’s only forty!”_ Kat groaned. _“Who looks to be in the beginning of his thirties.”_ Mal pointed out. _“Ugh, don’t you just hate men? Why they age so gracefully and we don’t?”_ Kat sighed out. _“Speak for yourself, dear. I am aging gracefully.”_ Mal said.

 _“Okay, I know where this conversation is going, I will just hang up now, okay?”_ Regina warned them but right now they were arguing about Mal’s age because the older blonde didn’t want to admit and Kat found it ridiculous because they were sisters and she knew her age. – After hanging up and put her phone back in her pocket she looked back down at her son as she sighed. “What is mommy going to do now, Henry?” She softly asked. “Is your other mother is needed?” She was speaking out but those questions were for her to answer, however Henry seemed to turn his head slightly and look up at brown eyes as he slowly played with his own tongue and it seemed like he just smiled. Regina knew that was just the newborn muscles playing out, but she loved to think that her son just answered her something. “Mommy will do her best.” Regina mumbled as she kept caressing his tiny fingers.


	3. Henry - Part I

**Regina’s Mansion – 2 Months later**

Regina was laying on her king sized bed with her 2-month old son. She had just placed him in this comfortable pillow she found online and he was sleeping. – While he slept comfortably besides her, she went through her emails from her laptop that rested over her lap. There was still some work left behind that Mal and Kat couldn’t finish but she appreciated their help very much because if they haven’t done anything, she’d be incredible busy and stressed out to get back on schedule and still take care of Henry. Things like this were already stressing so she couldn’t imagine how it would be if she didn’t have her friends’ help.

Her phone soon rang and she picked it quickly from her nightstand so the vibration wouldn’t wake up Henry. She could never understand how simple noises can wake him up and loud noises doesn’t bother him. – She fixed her reading glasses to take a better look at her phone screen and noticed it was a number she didn’t recognize but she had to pick up the call anyway because it could be one of the civilians trying to get in contact with her. “Yes?”

_“Am I speaking to Regina Mills?”_

“This is she.” Regina perked up an eyebrow.

_“Ah, Ms Mills, this is the military base from Boston speaking. We just wanted to let you know that we got in contact with the area Emma Swan was at.”_

Oh right, Regina had almost forgot about this, she just has been so worried sick about Henry that sometimes she forgets this issue. “And?” She stopped breathing.

_“Well we are sad to inform you that we can’t exactly get in contact with her because she was just assigned a new mission. It started last week and from what we know it’s a very long term mission. We can’t give you any more information because everything else is confidential.”_

Regina just dropped her head back as she brought her free hand to caress her forehead while she closed her eyes. When was she going to get in contact with this Emma Swan? “So there’s absolutely no way I can get in contact with her? Not even if I leave a message with you?”

_“I am sorry but on the records it says she’s completely out of our grasp.”_

Regina just let out a loud annoyed sigh because she just couldn’t believe this.

_“It’s like…picture an undercover mission like you see in the movies or cop shows. Those don’t have contacts with their families in order to not get them in danger or get caught; and Chief Petty Officer Emma Swan seems to be in those kind of missions. Any contact made with her can interfere with the whole assignment and ruin it.”_

Regina knew if she snapped at the woman it would just be rude, but she kind of disliked how the woman basically felt pity for her and started to give her examples of what Emma’s situation. She already got it the first time, she didn’t need this overkill. “Alright, I understand.” Yet she managed to keep her cool and not snap.

_“We are sorry for this late news, Ms Mills. We hope you can get in contact with your girlfriend soon. – Goodbye, have a nice day.”_

“She’s not-“ Before Regina could correct the other woman, she simple hung up and made Regina stare at the phone with a frown. Then, she just let an irritated groan and placed her phone back over her nightstand before grab her other free pillow and press it against her face to frustratingly scream in it.

Things never worked out well for her and she completely hated it. When she finally gained the courage to inform the blonde woman nothing seemed to be letting her tell that news. It was just giving her more time to have more doubts and in the end just chicken out. – But before she could put much thought about this her baby boy started crying and she quickly put the pillow aside. “Hii, Henry.” She said sweetly as she placed the laptop on the opposite side of the bed and picked up her small two-month old baby.   
“Are you hungry, sweetheart?” Henry just cried louder, so she pulled down her very loose tank top and allowed her baby to latch his mouth at her nipple. – She managed to actually breastfeed him on the second week he came back home. In the beginning he seemed to still prefer the bottle because of his time in NICU but then he got used to normal breastfeeding, which actually made her happy because she knows how much a mother’s milk is important for the baby and it just gives her joy to provide him something like that. She always thought she’d never have her own children because she went through some ovaries issues when she was younger and was kind of naïve in her teen years while discovering her sexuality thinking only being with women would stop her from having a child with her blood running through his veins.

* * *

**Iraq – Tents**

Emma Swan was marching back to the small camp her and her three guys team made after being assigned to a long term mission. She had to admit it was the longest mission she ever had and it was dangerous. There seemed to be lots of things to be done but she was glad the rest of the soldiers would also interfere time to time to slowly take down the streets of the entire town this terrorist just made up. “What’s for dinner?” 

Killian rubbed his chin, feeling his beard growing bigger than ever. “Canned beans and ye’ aint complaining.”

Emma rolled her eyes as she smirked. “Of course, Chef Jones.”

“We seriously need to get better food than this next the time they come check on us.” August groaned.

“We should just get a personal chef.” Jefferson suggested with a chuckle.

“Wouldn’t that be wonderful!” Killian shouted as he prepared the bonfire.

“I think we have bigger things to worry about than a personal chef.” Emma said as she put her gear away.

“Yea, as in why the fuck did they gave me such long mission?” August almost barked as he dropped himself on the ground besides Killian.

“I feel ya’.” Jefferson sighed and sat down on the ground besides them.

“Well at least we are important enough to be a part of such an important mission.” Emma tried to cheer up the guys.

“Ain’t no important soldiers here, Swan.” Killian swatted air with his hand. “We just happened to be foolish enough to face the dangerous.”

“Isn’t that still a good thing?” Emma chuckled as she sat beside them.

“Sometimes I think you do have a death wish.” August eyed the blonde woman.

“Nah, she just a better soldier than us.” Jefferson commented.

“How so?” Emma perked up an eyebrow.

“Cause unlike you we think about the consequences while you just keep gunning for the victory.” Jefferson explained.

“Well I am a soldier...” Emma frowned slightly not sure where this conversation was going.

“I am just saying, Ems. I love my country, I really do, and I love what I do but I must say I don’t have the same bravery as you do.” Jefferson shrugged.

“Yeaa, I am pretty tough but you girl are the toughest.” August smirked at her.

Emma shook her head with a smile. “I am pretty sure I am just like this because I am not leaving anybody behind.” She said because she knew they all had their own family; Killian had a long-term girlfriend, Jefferson had a husband and they already adopted twins while August might still be searching for the one but he had a bunch of siblings.

“Swan...” Killian frowned as he looked at her, he hated whenever the blonde beat herself up by not having family. They knew her lonely past but only Killian knew the full story or most of it.

“No, I am serious.” Emma shrugged. “If I had a family, like a girlfriend, or a kid, or even siblings I wouldn’t be so determined as I am right now. I am not stupid guys, I know that my life was planned just for this, because who the hell takes an orphan child to a military academy? It simple to turn her into a great soldier because they know there will be nothing behind for them.” She didn’t sound as hurt as she was truly feeling but she learned to shut down her feelings long time ago.

“Dude, you got a family.” August threw a can of bean. “We are your fam.” 

“Yeah, we are your brothers!” Jefferson added with a grin.

“Aww man, seriously? Can’t I pick other people? Like normal ones?” She teased.

“Oh shut it!” Killian laughed as he threw a spoon at her lap. “Ya love us and ya gotta deal with our brotherhood love!”

“Things got kind of gay right now.” August perked up an eyebrow as he eyed Killian.

“True story and I am the gay man in here.” Jefferson commented.

“I am the only gay in the village!” Emma made a funny voice because she was simple quoting one of her favourite characters from a British show called ‘Little Britain’.

And they all knew about that because they already watched it together, so they just let out cheerful big laughs that would fill the rest of their night and give them more reasons to wake up the next morning and carry on with their duties.

* * *

**12 months later – Storybrooke – Park**

“Hey, Henry! Wanna come to Auntie’s Kat lap?” Kat said with a big smile as she patted her own lap. 

The 14-month old toddler shook his head slowly and watched his aunt. “No, no, no, no.” He mumbled those no’s. 

Regina and Mal both laugh at how polite Henry sounded while rejecting Kathryn. “To be fair, his favourite word now is no, it comes right after mommy.” Regina told Kat. They were all on the grass from the park with a large blanket underneath them as they basically had a picnic.

“Mommy!” Henry then pointed at Regina when he heard her saying the word ‘mommy’.

“Yes, sweetheart.” Regina just smiled and watched him clumsily walk up to her before he dropped himself forward, completely trusting her to just catch him and she did. “Are you ready for your snack, Henry?” She asked as she fixed him better on her lap.

“He’s lucky he’s adorable.” Kat said as she began to search for Henry’s yogurt that she knew Regina had packed.

“That he is.” Mal commented as she looked down at her nephew, well he wasn’t really her nephew but she and Kat were Regina’s best friends and she allowed them to let Henry know he could call them auntie. 

Regina nodded with a big proud smile as she watched her toddler already nibbling on the bib she just put it on him. He was indeed the most adorable child. She knows every parent says that about their child but Henry is truly a beautiful and adorable toddler. – He has lots of thin hair that Regina always loved to caress, and it was dark brown like her own. He also had thin lips that for sure weren’t hers. She still remembered those thin lips, and oh his green eyes were just a spitting image of Emma’s. Regina thought about the blonde every time she wakes up and looks into her son’s green eyes, it was obvious the little one was a mixture of them. He had their both genes and Regina loves it and hates it; only because she still couldn’t make any kind of contact with the blonde woman.

“Here.” Kat handed Regina the yogurt and a small plastic spoon.

“Thank you.” Regina mumbled as she began to feed Henry his yogurt, at least this time the little one seemed to stay still to eat.

“So…about our mysterious woman, still no word?” Mal asked as she ate a strawberry.

“Not even a whisper.” Regina replayed as she looked down at her son to make sure he was actually eating and not just playing with the yogurt in his mouth.

“Still? How long will that mission last? Like it has been far too long.” Kat said with a frown.

“Far too long indeed.” Regina was keeping her answers short because it was also kind of her fault she had no word from the military, simple because she stopped calling. She really chickened out and decided to just drop the subject and focus on her work and on Henry, they said they’d call her so she waited and see if that actually happen by itself. However a year as passed she still haven’t received any calls. 

Mal easily figured out her friend. “Are you still calling? Or you just gave up on that idea?”

Regina frowned and both sisters could see one of their friend’s eye twitch. “There’s nothing else I can do, they don’t have information then fine, I won’t be desperate about it, Henry has me.”

“Yes, dear, that he does however-“ Mal was trying to bring the rational out because she knew her friend was upset.

Regina interrupted her. “He has me and he’s just fine like that. He doesn’t need one more mother.” She stated it more firmly and helped him standing up as he took a few steps forward but then came back to her. Regina gave him another spoon of yogurt; there he was moving around while eating again.

Both blonde sisters just looked at each other and decided they had no more words on that matter, if Regina made her decision they couldn’t do much about it.

* * *

**Iraq**

Emma just left the building she was using her weapon at because there was a truck with all her friends waiting for her.

“Time to get ya back, Swan!” Peter shouted with a big smile as he fist bumped her shoulder the very moment she jumped into the truck. The young soldier just missed her; she was basically the one that ‘babysat’ him through his entire time in Iraq, but when she spent this whole year busy with these new assignments he just had a terrifying and loud superior that just wouldn’t leave him the hell alone.

“Hey, Pan, did you grow a beard?” Emma teased him as she noticed that the boy really looked older and tougher, but for her, he was still that skinny awkward soldier that she took care of sometimes.

“Yea, like it?! My wife loves it.” Peter grinned as he rubbed his scruffy beard. 

“Oh a wife?” She perked up an eyebrow, curious.

“Yup! I proposed to Wendy when I was sent back home again after our celebration, then I married her on my second time off. We are married for two months now, look at our baby girl!” Peter said all excited as he took out a crumpled photo from his pocket and it showed a beautiful toddler that was probably through her first year.

“She’s gorgeous, Pan.” Emma grinned and wrapped her arm around his neck before rubbing her fist on the top of his head. “You made a beautiful girl for a guy hella ugly like you.” She joked.

And Peter just laughed as he tried to get out from Emma’s strong grip around his neck. “She got her mother’s genes!” He admitted that her daughter was indeed beautiful and was a spitting image of her mother, and nothing made Peter prouder than to have a mini Wendy around, he loved his baby girl. 

Emma finally let go off him as they just leaned back. “How’s everybody back at the camp?”

“The usual shit, ya know.” Peter shrugged. “I am super glad you are finally back, Ems. I fucking missed you. I am tired of my superior, that man’s scary as fuck and he ain’t leaving me alone.” Peter admitted with a chuckle that made the rest of the guys that were in the truck with them laugh as well.

“Aw, I am pretty sure he’s not that bad.” Emma said.

“Nuh uh, man looks like he came out from a badass movie, I swear.” Peter crossed his heart.

“I will be the judge of that.” Emma grinned and showed her strong tattooed biceps, basically showing off and wondering if there was anything scarier than her, of course there were but she always liked to mess around whenever she had a chance to.

Peter laughed out loud as he shook his head. “He’s going to beat you up!”

“We will see!” Emma shouted at him before ruffle his hair.

And when they thought they’d carry on with their silly conversation two hours to their camp, they were completely wrong because in a second a grenade hit the road right in front of the truck, but they were lucky it didn’t overturn the vehicle.

“Ambush!” One of the soldiers shouted as they all got out of the truck and went to find a place to cover.

“Everybody cover!” Emma shouted as she ran to some building close to the truck and watched some soldiers doing the same but within a few seconds she watched two being shot dead, a perfect shot. “There’s a fucking sniper!” Emma shouted again to warn them all as she quickly uncovered herself to start shooting her other weapon at some enemies that were coming closer by foot, but she only stayed uncovered for three seconds and then quickly hid herself again not wanting to get the sniper to get her.

Emma wasn’t only concerned about her cover, she was wondering where was August, Killian and Jefferson. They weren’t in the same truck as her, they were a bit further ahead and she just hoped that the grenade didn’t hit their truck.

“Where the hell is that sniper!?” Killian shouted as he did his best to kill the enemies closest to them to keep himself safe.

“I don’t fucking know!” August shouted back.

Emma could hear their voices so she felt glad they were alive, then her eyes caught sight of Jefferson inside some building as well, so he was alive too, now about Peter…She almost panicked till she noticed the boy was hiding behind some wall of a ruined building, okay he was fine too- “Pan, behind you!!” Emma shouted as she noticed there was an enemy running towards Peter.

Peter heard her and he just gripped on his gun ready to shot the guy behind him but he just wasn’t fast enough.

“No!” Emma barked as she looked at a soldier that was hiding with her in the same building. “Cover me!” She ordered him and then went quickly towards Peter’s body but on the way managed to easily kill the enemy and keep the bullets from her body as far as possible. 

She was pretty sure one had just hit her forearm; yet she ignored the pain and threw herself on the ground, crawling her way towards Peter’s body. “Kid, hey kid!” She shouted at him and didn’t saw him moving. That was making her worried sick, so she just kept crawling and when she was finally was safe behind the wall, she took a better look at Peter and noticed blood coming from his mouth as he did his best to keep his eyes open. “Bloody hell, Pan...”

“Em- Emma...” Peter mumbled as he shut his eyes tightly and let out a groan of pain before opening them again slowly. “Please don’t make me die here…just please…Emma do something…”

“Shhh, shut up, Peter. Stop talking, you’re losing strength.” Emma ordered as she looked down at his body and tried to see where was the main issue, all she saw was probably five bullets in his body, he wasn’t going to make it… “Kid keep those eyes open, we will get you out of here.” Emma told him as she brought his head to her lap and decided to pinch his cheeks time to time to make sure he’d keep awake.

“Right...” Peter let out a dry chuckle as he could still hear the battle happening right behind them. 

“I am always right, Pan.” Emma frowned as she stared down at him, completely ignoring the bullet still in her forearm.

“I don’t want to die here…please...” He almost begged.

“You are going to make it! I fucking know it!” Emma quickly shouted at him because she wasn’t going to lose him. She couldn’t lose Peter, he became like a little brother to her and she refused to lose him.

“Emma..I- I was waiting for my applications to g-get confirmed..” Peter coughed, he really didn’t want to die in this shitty place. “I tried the...boston’s uni..t-they said they’d answer me this week..” He groaned in pain.

“And you will be there to get their letter, Pan, just hang in there.” Emma told him as she gripped his shoulders.

“I was…I was going to do wha-what you said...” Now he was trying to not cry. “I was going to leave this…r-raise my baby girl…god Emma I love my baby girl...” Now he just broke down crying with a desperate expression on.

“I know, Peter, I know, and you will see her soon.” Emma tried to convince him and herself he’d be fine, and she freaked out a little more when she noticed he was awfully quiet and his eyes almost fully closed. “Okay, tell me her name, what’s her name Peter?!”

“Hayley…it’s a great name...don’t you think?” Peter asked with a sad smile.

“Yes, it’s wonderful, keep telling me about her. She can already walk?”

“Y-Yea...she falls a lot...but keeps get-getting back up..”

“Just like her father, she’s a fighter, you will get back up too, Pete.” 

Peter let out a very weak small chuckle. “W-Wendy keeps smothe-..hows the goddamn word..?”

“Smothering?” Emma said with a small smile.

“Y-Yea...she keeps doing that…and she hates wh-when I don- don’t help out Hayley in her…move struggles…or whatever..”

Emma chuckled lowly as she felt tears threatening to fall. “Yea, I know. Mothers can be like that, but don’t worry, your kid’s strong.”

“I know…she loves to play wi-with my dog tags…” Peter felt like he was taking his last breathes, so he went for it. “Tell them-“

“No, Pete! You tell them whatever you have to say! I refuse to listen to it! You are the one who will tell them that!” Emma shook him.

Peter smiled sadly and just stared up at the sky, he was going to embrace his fate. “It’s so...beautiful..” He mumbled those words and Emma couldn’t understand what he actually meant by that. “Take- take care..of them Ems..” And that was Peter’s last words.

“No…no, no, no! Peter wake the fuck up! Come on!” Emma now shook him violently, she didn’t even know why she was losing her mind like that, she never lost her cool about somebody like this, but she just got too attached to Peter and now she was hurting too much. “Pan, don’t you dare to die on me, you heard me?! That’s an order, soldier!” She screamed and cried and did her best to wake him up.

But with all this going on she completely forgot she was in a war zone and suffered the consequences, because next thing she knows is that she heard another explosion and she was no longer behind that wall next to Peter. She was laying back on the ground, feeling pain throughout her body. She felt completely numb as she coughed out blood and green eyes stared at the battlefield as she held her head to the side. She didn’t see anything beautiful, she saw war, ugly war, but the noises were all gone, that was the only decent thing right now. “What’s so fucking beautiful about that...” She mumbled those words very slowly and weakly as she finally gave in and closed her eyes.

“Emma!”

“Swan!”

* * *

**9 months later – Boston Military Base**  
 _Where is she…where is she…_ Regina Mills thought to herself as she tried to find Emma Swan through the room filled with soldiers and people sitting down on the all chairs well placed. Everybody paid attention to the words the commander was speaking. – This was basically a reunion to give soldiers their medals. When Regina found out about the reward ceremony in Boston, she demanded a list of soldiers that were going to be there and found out that Emma Swan was in it, so she wasn’t going to chicken out this time. She was going straight to Boston and face this woman and tell her the truth.

She left her toddler son in Mal and Kat’s care because there was no way she was just going to show up here with her son in her arms. She knows he’s still too small to completely understand this but he’s also clever for his age and there might be topics of conversation that Regina won’t be comfortable to be talking about while her son is around.  
“And now our silver star goes to Chief Petty Officer, Emma Swan!” The commander announced as everybody watched two male soldiers bringing up a wheel chair with somebody in it, and that was Emma Swan.

Emma hated that she had to ask August and Killian to bring her wheelchair up, but the platform was high and there wasn’t any kind of ramp. She thanked them nonetheless and wheeled towards the commander, allowing him to put the silver star on her brown camouflage uniform. She greeted him politely and the other two superiors besides him, then the commander pointed forward and gave her a microphone basically allowing her to make a speech. “Okay so…I couldn’t find my twenty pages speech...” She joked and everybody slightly laughed.

But not Regina, the brunette woman was in shock because the blonde was completely different, first of all she was in a wheelchair and she had no leg…that was the first thing Regina’s eyes caught on, that from her left knee down, there was nothing, and Regina knew it was just rude to keep staring but she couldn’t stop.  
“But today ladies and gentlemen, I am honoured to be here, more honoured to be a part of this with soldiers we shared the battlefield with.” She looked over her shoulder to the all enlisted behind her as she rubbed her left thigh. “I remember before joining the Navy I kept telling myself that I will conquer what has not been conquered, defeat will not be in my creed, I will believe what others have doubted, I will always endeavour for the prestige, honour and respect of my country.” 

She looked at the suppose audience. “I believed that, I had trained my mind and my body would follow. I’d acknowledge the fact that my enemies do not expect me to win but I would never surrender. Weakness will not be in my heart! And let me tell you right here I will do it all over again!” She was finally feeling what she was really saying and showing bit of her rage and frustration. “I will look to my comrades and to those who trained me and I will draw strength from them!” She felt her hands getting wet and her leg was back at it with the pain again, and so did a recent scar on her back from a stupid bar fight. “I will gladly go out into the battlefield, and I will move, groove, and do everything that I can do and I will reach my field of battle by any means at my disposal; and when I get there I will arrive violently. I will rip the heart from my enemy and leave it bleeding on the ground, because he cannot stop me!”

Everybody was paying extremely attention to the blonde soldier and her closest friends could feel everything she was feeling right now because only them knew what she went through these past nine months after being sent back home when they suffered that ambush. – Regina felt something in the blonde’s words. She felt anger, the woman did not look like the sweet, flirty and funny blonde who managed to get under her skin that night.

“To my side I have comrades, comrades that have been with me through thick and thin, through sacrifice, through blood, through sweat, through tears! Never will I let them fall! Never will I let them down! And I will never leave an enemy behind! Because our enemy does not know my heart!” She shouted. “None will deny me, no one will defy me and none will tell me what I can’t do. Belief will change my world. It has moved continents, and countries, and put a man on the moon, and it will carry me through this battle!” She finally seemed to calm down after those words but she was still not done with her speech, she just kept staring at the people in front of her but she wasn’t really paying attention to their faces, her mind was going too fast right now and she felt such adrenaline right now, but at the same time bad images from war was running through her mind and she was starting to feel angrier, especially when a flash of Peter dying in her arms came in her mind. “Defeat, retreat, those are not in my words. I do not understand those definitions, I do not understand when things go wrong, I do not understand mistakes but I do understand this: I understand victory and I understand to never surrender! No matter how bad things go, my heart and my mind will carry my body when my limbs are too weak! And victory shall be ours!” And with that she finished her speech and everybody stood up from their chairs to clap and cheer her, the usual speeches were more soft, they weren’t even long, but everybody seemed to also get motived by Emma’s words and all pumped which made the all cheering start in the large room.

In few minutes everything seemed to calm down, they all stopped giving the medals and now everybody was simple chatting away and some were leaving, but Regina was trying to gain the courage to just approach the blonde woman before she could leave. So when she caught sight of her alone, she was ready to march there. However, some petite woman approached her first and placed on the soldier’s laptop a toddler girl that looked to be the same age as her Henry. Regina didn’t understand what was going on, and her body betrayed her, because in a second she was hiding away in the bathroom and calling her friend.

_“Yes?”_ Mal voice sounded on the other end. _“Regina, Henry’s fine you really need to calm down with all the calling.”_ The woman chuckled.

“I think she has a family.” Regina quickly spoke as she tried to breath normally. 

_“What? What are you talking about?”_

“Emma Swan…I think she has another child.”

_“Oh- Wha- Okay how do you know that?”_

“I just saw a petite young woman placing a little girl on her lap.”

_“Regina, that might mean nothing, maybe it’s her niece or something.”_

“What if it’s her daughter? I can’t ruin a family like that, Mal.”

_“Regina please, just get her alone and talk to her. She needs to know, I am sure this has been eating you up lately, you need to have your conscious clean.”_

“But…if that’s her family, how is Henry going to fit in there?”

_“You said you didn’t care to raise Henry alone, and you are going to carry on with that thought for now, till you get an answer from that woman. So woman up and go tell her.”_

“You are right…” This is why Regina called her friend Mal and not Kat, because Kat would just freak out with her and Mal was wiser to try calm her down and make her ‘woman up’ and just do it. “Alright, I will tell her.”

_“That’s my girl, now bye I am going to feed Henry, tell me later how it went.”_

“Make sure he eats it all.”

_“Got it.”_

“But don’t force him or else he will throw it all up later and it will leave his stomach empty.”

_“I know, ‘Gina. Just go.”_

“Okay, okay, I am going. Bye.”

_“Goodbye, mama bear.”_

Regina hung up and took a deep breath as she calmed herself down in the bathroom and also fixed herself to make sure she was well presentable, and that’s when the sudden courage came so she had to just go, and she did. She noticed the blonde woman was still with the little girl on her lap but Regina couldn’t stop now or else she’d chicken out. “Emma Swan?” She did her best to not stutter as she kept her posture rigid behind the wheelchair from the blonde.

Emma was playing with Hayley on her lap; she had gotten pretty close to Wendy and this child since Peter’s death. He wanted her to take care of them, so time to time she’d check on them and even helped Wendy financially every month for Hayley. It was only one hundred bucks but Wendy said it made a huge difference. After settling Peter’s estate, there were still expenses that had to be met as Wendy got back on her feet. 

Emma doesn’t have much expenses herself, she hardly spends any money and she owns an apartment; just one bedroom, kitchen connected to the living room and one bathroom. She didn’t need more than that, she was a loner so. - “Yes?” Emma replayed when she heard somebody calling out for her. She managed to turn the wheelchair around with just one hand and she gasped when her eyes caught sight of a brunette she hasn’t seen in a very long time.

“Hello.” Regina simple greeted still not sure how she was going to do this.

“You…hi.” Emma was still kind of lost but greeted. “What are you doing here?” 

Regina was taken back by the sudden question because it felt like Emma wanted to get rid of her right away. “Well I-“

“Hayley baby, time to go.” Wendy said as she approached them and picked up her child from the Navy Seal’s lap. “Say goodbye to Auntie Emma.” She pecked her toddler’s cheek. “Bye-Bye!” Hayley said with a big grin as she waved her hand and tried to blow a kiss to Emma.

“Bye, big girl.” Emma smiled up at Hayley and waved back.

“Bye, Emma. I shall see you next weekend then, yes?” Wendy asked.

“Yea, I will be there.” Emma confirmed. 

“Alright, take care of yourself in the meantime.” Wendy smiled at her and rubbed the soldier’s shoulder before leave the two women behind, completely ignoring Regina’s presence.

Regina was glad for two things, one the woman and the toddler left and two it wasn’t Emma’s daughter, so Regina wasn’t pulling any home wrecker move. 

“So!” Emma cleared her throat as she looked up at the brunette. “Want a drink?”

“You have a child.” Regina quickly and simple stated, she didn’t know what the hell happen with her but she just burled that out.

Emma frowned slightly and looked confused at her. “What? No, no, they aren’t my family. We are just friends.” 

Regina placed a trembling hand upon the woman’s shoulder and leaned down to whisper into her ear. “No, you do have a child, with me.” 

And Emma felt like they placed a bomb on her, the military never taught her how to deal with this kind of things. She knows how to deal with a real bomb, not one like this… “Noo...” She had no words, so she was on the simple stage of denial.

Regina pressed her lips together and nodded her head a she straightened up her back and placed her palms in front of her. “In Boston, when mayor attended to the celebration.”

“Oh shit...” Emma quickly cursed herself as now she just remembered the incredible mistake of not wearing a condom, a fucking classic. She rubbed her own face and tried to get a grip of her emotions about this because there was nothing that could prepare her for something new like this. Well, she highly doubted other people would also be prepared to get this type of news out of blue unless the whole child was planned. “Fuck.”

Regina just stood there, knowing if she moved her knees would betray her and she’d fall, she was already feeling slightly dizzy from the all nerves, her breathing was so hard. She was trying to control it to not be noticed but that only complicated her breathing even more. – Emma was just quiet, cursing herself and probably thinking about what she was going to do now, but Regina had no high hopes, just watching how the blonde is reaction right now already tells her she won’t be part of Henry’s life, even though some people would be running out of the door if they were in Emma’s shoes, however Emma’s in no condition to run but still…

“Let’s go outside.” Emma stated as she began to wheel her way through the people and leave the goddamn room, so she can get some fresh air and have more privacy to discuss this with the brunette woman.

Regina felt like Emma’s words were more like an order than a simple statement but she followed the blonde woman nonetheless because she wanted to go get fresh air as well and the large room seemed to grow smaller each second she spent there.

* * *

** TBC **


	4. Henry - Part II

_“Let’s go outside.” Emma simply stated as she began to wheel her way through the people and leave the goddamn room, so she can get fresh air and have more privacy to discuss this with the brunette woman.  
Regina felt like Emma’s words was more like an order than a simple statement but she followed the blonde woman nonetheless because she wanted to go get fresh air as well and the large room seemed to grow smaller each second she spent there._

In couple of minutes they were both outside and Emma managed to stay away from everybody and any curious ears. “So…” Emma started but right now she was starting to look through her pockets to find her goddamn cigarettes and have a smoke, she really needed it right now. – So whenever she found her pack she took out one cig and then looked at the brunette woman in case she wanted one as well.

* * *

Regina stood three steps away from the blonde woman as she gripped tightly onto the handles of her purse and began to play with her own thumbs because the nervousness wouldn’t just go away. When she was offered a cigarette she quickly shook her head because she didn’t smoke, sure she tried it in her teen years and spent couple of years smoking it but she was never addicted to it and one day she decided to just stop and she did with no problem.

“Boy or a girl?” Emma asked not making any eye contact as she blew out the smoke. 

Regina snapped out of it and was glad the blonde woman finally asked it. “Boy.”

“Name?” She now scratched her temple with her thumb while holding the cigarette between her fingers.

“He’s name is Henry.” 

“How old is he?”

“He’ll be two very soon.”

Now Emma started doing the math because she wanted to be sure if this child was indeed hers.

Regina felt kind of offended when Emma just stayed awful quiet after knowing Henry’s age, she couldn’t help but to think the blonde was doing the math and confirm it was her child. Why in the hell would Regina lie? This wasn’t even how she planned her future, if she wanted to have a child with another woman she’d have gone through the first relationship stages before carrying a child. “I am not here to put parenting responsibility on your shoulders. I just figured that you deserved to know.” 

Emma frowned slightly at that because if the woman didn’t want Emma in the boy’s life then why she just come to specially meet her and only after all this time? She knows she spent a year out in the field, but that’s still one year left that the brunette could tell her about the baby boy. “Why now?”

Regina let out a small chuckle as she shook her head. “Because you, Miss Swan, are a hard woman to find.” Emma just looked more confused. 

“I must confess through my pregnancy I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t try to contact you till I was in my eight months, but when I called the base they said they couldn’t get in contact with you right away but when they did, they would call me again, so I waited.” Regina rose her shoulders for a second before drop them down. “Then I had Henry, he came early, with 35 weeks, he spent almost four weeks at the NICU.” Regina wasn’t looking at Emma right now but if she did she could see absolute worry and a bit of despair when she found out her child went through that struggle. “I think it was on the last week, I got a call from my friends saying the base called my office and said that you were in Boston for two weeks but you had left the Saturday before.” 

Emma frowned at that because that was when she was sent back home for David’s funeral. “Yes, I had lost an important person during that time.” She confirmed it because she also wanted to make sure Regina at least had tried to contact her.

“I am sorry.” Regina said as she took a deep breath. “When Henry was two months the base called me again and informed that you just got a long term mission and there’s no way I could get in contact with you.”

“Yea…I was.” Emma mumbled because it was on that mission she lost some few comrades and Peter, where she lost her leg and now she has to deal with this disability but she will find a way to turn around this. Also, she believes it was when her PTSD started but her psychiatrist told her it might have already started long ago but now it was noticeable and now she has to take three kind of drugs because of this fucked up illness. Here she thought she’d always be strong enough for whatever came at her way.

“So I kind of gave up…I was frustrated that I spent those months trying to contact you but no luck; I decided to focus on raising Henry and working till I found out they were giving medals to the soldiers so I asked the base for the names and saw yours…” Regina looked down at the blonde woman. “I figured if I was ever going to tell you it had to be now and I am glad I did.” Now she just waited for the other woman say something.

Emma was still processing everything and figure out what she was really supposed to think or do in a situation like this.

Regina felt very uncomfortable with the all silence. “But like I said, you don’t have to be part of Henry’s life if you don’t want to.”

“I…” Emma felt a pang in her chest and she knew an anxiety attack was about to come and she knew she had anti-anxiety medication in one of her pockets but she didn’t want to take it in front of Regina. “Can I have time to think? This…all is just too much right now…” Emma was trying to not stutter.

Regina bit the inside of her lower lip as she felt like slapping the blonde woman because now there was that part of her that didn’t want Henry to be rejected by his other parent. Of course he was still young to understand but when he grows older, he’d be curious and Regina didn’t want to have a conversation with him and about his not caring mother. “Alright, I shall leave now.” Regina was now looking through her purse for her business card and gave it to the blonde. “Give me a call whenever you figure out what to do.” She said a bit coldly and turned around to leave.

Emma grabbed the card but didn’t look at it, she just wanted the woman gone so she could take her medication and calm down, the anxiety was getting stronger and she couldn’t bear with it for much longer. 

Regina only took three steps away but then she remembered about the picture she brought of Henry to show it to the blonde. Though the conversation she just had, she wasn’t sure if she was going to show the picture any longer. Oh what the hell... “Here.” Regina spoke as she removed a photo of her purse and handed it to the blonde woman. “That’s a recent picture of him.” She waited few seconds for the blonde to say something but she didn’t. “He will be two next Sunday, there will be a small party.” Regina was basically leaving hints to let the blonde woman know if she wanted to see Henry in person that she could just drop by the toddler’s party and spend time with him, but the Seal still remained quiet so Regina simple gave up and left the woman alone.

Emma stared down at the photo and saw a beautiful pale brunet boy, he was smiling up showing his tiny teeth while he held a teddy bear and stood there in his tiny blue shorts and white t-shirt, he was perfection. “Oh god…” Emma felt her breathing getting harder as she dropped the card and photo over her lap and began to search through her pockets for her anti-anxiety medication. When she found it, she quickly put it in her mouth and swallowed it with no hesitation. She needed to figure out what she was going to do.

* * *

**Storybrooke – Regina’s Mansion**

“So that’s it?” Kat perked up an eyebrow as she took a sip of her cider. “She still hasn’t called you?”

“It has only been one day.” Regina reminded her as she watched Henry playing with his toys over his blanket.

“But still, who wouldn’t want to meet such adorable thing?” Kat smiled as she watched Henry nibbling on one of his cubes.

“I don’t know.” Regina sighed.

“Don’t worry, I am sure she will call soon.” Mal comforted Regina but not even she was so sure about her words; they didn’t know anything about this woman, they didn’t know her personality. They didn’t know if she was one of those hit it and run, so all they could do is give comforting words and wait.

“We shall see.” Regina mumbled.

“Anyway, let’s plan Henry’s party!” Kat quickly suggested as she took out her phone, so she could write down on her notes what they were going to do. 

“Pirates or cowboys?” Regina asked.

“Pirates.” Kat said. “Cowboys.” Mal stated.

“No, cowboys aren’t cool, pirates are way cooler.” 

“Nonsense, cowboys are way better and it has horses.”

“And pirates have large ships and cool swords.”

Regina sighed out knowing very well there was another sister argument coming between those two. “Let’s allow Henry to decide.” Regina suggested as she went through his toys and found one of his small spongy small swords and then a horse toy. She stepped away from him and placed the toys over the ground with a good distance between them. “Henry, sweetheart, which toy do you want to play with?” Regina called out for her son as she watched him look up at her before look down at his toys.

Henry slowly stood up from the ground, gained his balance and began to step forward to go get his toy and everybody watched him with wide eyes, specially Kat and Mal because they wanted the little one to pick their theme for his party, and Henry dropped himself on the ground when he picked his toy which was the sword.

“Yes!” Kat cheered as she went up to the toddler and hugged him tightly. “That’s my boy, pirates party!”

Mal just rolled her eyes and muttered something while Regina chuckled, loving moments like these because it felt like a real big family.

* * *

**Saturday – Regina’s Mansion ******

****“So she’s coming!?” Kat asked with a curious expression as she tucked Henry against her hip.** **

****“She text me last night about directions.” Regina answered. “So I believe she’s coming unless she regrets it at last minute.” Regina shrugged not really wanting to create high hopes.** **

****“That’s wonderful, dear, I am sure she will come.” Mal said as she took a sip from her wine and fixed the table towel with pirate drawings on it. Henry was going to have his two-year-old boy birthday party and this time Regina decided to bring more people than his first year. She thought it was time to make Henry be more social with other kids and maybe make a friend or something because she knows he rarely has contact with other children due being always stuck with her either at home or at office.** **

****“We shall wait and see.” Regina said as she removed Henry from Kat’s arms so she could hold him because he was making grabby hands to her. When he was safely in her arms he began to mess around with her necklace, she removed his hand from it twice but he just kept playing with it.** **

****“Well in the meantime we should go prepare better the backyard for the kids.” Kat suggested as she began to pick up the all large pieces of puzzle made of spongy material that Regina got, you could put it together like a simple puzzle and your child could play over it without hurting himself. So they were thinking about putting that outside and let the kids play on it.** **

****“Yes, indeed.” Regina nodded as she picked up as much pieces as she could while holding Henry just with one arm.  
** **

**......**

“So, how’s this kid?” Killian Jones asked as he drove around Storybrooke streets in Emma’s Jeep Wrangler.

“I don’t know much.” Emma admitted as she tied up her hair because she was tired of having it blow against her face (since they took off the jeep’s roof because it was hot today). “I just know today he’s turning two.”

“Do ya at least know the lads name?” Killian chuckled as he looked down at the GPS to make sure he was following the right directions.

“Well yeah, his name is Henry.” Emma answered as she now began to pick on her lower lip, trying to ruin its dry skin. “I’ve got a picture of him.”

“Ye do?” Killian asked curiously.

“Yup, she gave me one.” Emma now stopped messing up with her lip to remove a photo from her camouflage pants, because despite her condition she still refused to stop showing up at the base and stop her training. She decided to still go there every day and work out her other muscles and sometimes use the small physiotherapy office it had, it wasn’t as good as her own physiotherapist but sometimes she used it as a getaway of the usual hard physiotherapy she gets at the clinic.  
She’s still doing it so it should count, right? Deep down she knows it doesn’t but sometimes the pain is too much too bare and the frustration through some exercises just leaves Emma completely angry. “This one.” Emma showed up the picture when the car stopped because some people were crossing the road and they were taking their time because Storybrooke rarely had new faces.

“He’s cute.” Killian pointed out when he saw the little toddler on the photo before start driving again.

“Yea.” Emma said as she looked down at the photo and took her time to pay attention to every detail of the little boy’s face.

“Fucking hell, Swan. Ya’ didn’t tell me yer baby mama lives in a goddamn mansion.” Killian said as he parked the jeep right in front of the mansion.

Emma perked up an eyebrow and looked up at the mansion as her chin slowly dropped. “Oh shit…so the card was right, she’s indeed the mayor of this town.” She then looked quickly at Killian.

“Aww man, ye banged a mayor? Goddamnit, Swan, next time have a child with some ordinary chick.” Killian almost groaned because he still couldn’t believe his friend’s luck even though she got a very extreme bad luck this past year.

“Shut up and go get my prosthetics.” She smacked his arm as she waited for him to go get it on the back of the truck, Emma hated using that because it could become very painful and very frustrating to use it. She has only been with it for almost three months now and is still trying to adapt but she’s sick of the wheelchair. What she uses the most is her crutches because she can move rather fast with it thanks to all her arm strength she keeps gaining by not stopping a single day of working out. – However she didn’t want to freak out a 2year old boy by showing up there without a leg, specially a boy who is her son, if she ever becomes an important figure in his life she doesn’t want him to get scared of her so easily.

“There ya go, Swan.” Killian said as he handed her the dark prosthesis.

“Thanks.” She grabbed it but then she noticed something was missing. “Where’s the sock?”

“What sock?” 

“The fucking sock I always wear it, Jones.”

“I don’t know?”

“I need it!”

“Fine, fine, chill let me go check it better.” Killian huffed out as he began to look through the trunk in case the sock had fell off. “Swan, I really don’t see any sock.”

“Check my sports bag!” She called out as she began to roll up her pants to be high up on her thigh as she took a look down at her leg or at least what was there left of it.

Killian went through the sports bag and found socks but he was smart enough to know that wasn’t the kind of socks Emma wanted. “I don’t see that sock, I swear.”

“Are you for real?!” 

“Yes.”

“Oh fucking hell…” Emma groaned and just dropped her head in her free hand since the other held the prosthesis. 

“Dude just use it without the sock, no big deal.” Killian shrugged as he closed the trunk. 

“What? You expect me to spend hours with this shit with no sock? Do you even know how painful that can be? It’s already painful with the goddamn sock!” Emma was now putting her rage on him mostly because she was feeling too much at once and now the ‘goddamn sock’ made her explode. “I can’t meet them now, we gotta go.”

“Will ya calm down?!” Killian grabbed her shoulders so she’d just snap out of it, he was already used to his friend’s rage but he did not deal with it as well as Jefferson for example. “Put on the stupid prosthesis get yer ass out of this jeep and go in there. Don’t freckin’ leave that lad motherless.” He then poked her chest bone hard.

Emma clenched her jaw and watched Killian angrily, he was lucky he was a close friend or else she’d snap and make him get his hands off of her; but now she was processing things more calmly and realized she shouldn’t be angry at Killian or at anybody, just at herself because she probably left the sock at the locker rooms while she showered and changed before get here. “You know he already has a mother, right?” 

“Ye know what I meant.” Killian rolled his eyes as he stepped back from the blonde. “Do ye need help with that?”

“Nah.” She dismissed his help as she began to put the prosthetic leg already feeling how her limb seated uncomfortably in it because the lack of the sock, she used it to protect her skin, to make it more comfortable and also to make more volume because it seems her leg was shrinking and this prosthetic leg didn’t fit that well without the sock, but what the hell now, she had to face this and she wouldn’t back down.

“Yup ye go.” Killian said as he grabbed Emma by her elbows and helped her stand up, he knew she’d be too stubborn to ask for his help but she did need help to get out of the jeep and stand up.

“Thanks.” Emma muttered as she rolled down her pants and tucked her white tank-top inside it while fixing the belt as well, then grabbed her dark green cap and put it over her head after sneaking her ponytail through the gap; she was just making herself as presentable as possible but Killian saw it as a way to make up more time and not face them right away.

“Ye good, Swan. Just go.” Killian rolled his eyes as he patted his friend’s back.

“Alright, okay, yea.” She stuttered as she took a deep breath and prepared herself mentally one last time. “Can you come with me?” She clapped her hands together and looked at Killian with the best puppy eyes she could pull off, which was hard task to do for those green eyes who witnessed so many awful things.

“Seriously?” Killian eyed her when she simply nodded her sighed out. “Fine, fine. Let’s go then.”

They both walked up to the door and knocked on it, twice, but nobody opened the door. “Sure ye got the right address?”

“Yea, that’s what she texted me. Maybe you didn’t follow the right directions.”

“Hey, don’t blame me, blame the bloody GPS.”

“Whatever, ugh.” Emma was now even more frustrated because when she finally gained the courage to just do it, she couldn’t because it seems they got the wrong house.

“Wait, I hear voices.” Killian said as he placed his palm over her shoulder. “Backyard!” He quickly pointed out as he began to walk around the house to try find a way to the backyard and when he found the white small wooden door, he opened it and in few steps he was in the backyard and found three women and a toddler playing on the grass. “Swan!!” Killian called out for his friend.

“Well hello...” Mal was the first one to notice the man’s presence and she must say he was very handsome.

“I thought you said it was a woman…” Kat mumbled when she looked up to find a tall handsome man in camouflage pants, combat boots and a dark t-shirt.

“That’s not her.” Regina quickly said as she stood up from her spot and stepped in front of her toddler who was playing with some toys. “May I-“

“Jones, what the hell are you doing?!” Emma half whispered and half yelled as she did her best to walk fast after her friend. “You are going to get us arrested, you just can’t go around people’s houses like that!” She still complained and grabbed his arm to just yank him out of there till her eyes landed on the three woman, especially on the brunette one she knew.

“Aint no jail-time for us this time, Swan.” Killian joked. “They are here.” He then pointed forward and allowed his friend to have her usual awkward silence.

Regina rose her eyebrows surprised as she relaxed a bit when she noticed it wasn’t trouble coming. “You are here.” She mumbled those words loud enough and finally it got to her how the blonde wasn’t on the wheelchair anymore and how she seemed to have both legs?

“Hi.” Emma said awkwardly as she did her best to show a kind smile but it only came out as a weird dumb one. “Excuse my friend, he has spent way too long away from the civilization.” She quickly apologized because it was just rude what he did.

“Oh shut it, Swan.” Killian frowned at her and was about to complain even more if she didn’t tighten her hold against his bicep, he knew when it was his time to shut up.

“It’s alright. I... I am glad you arrived.” Regina did her best to not be nervous about this but it wasn’t easy.

“Yea, I hope I am in time.” Emma said with her still awkward smile; not aware she arrived early.

“Okay, so, I am going.” Killian looked at his friend and pressed his palms against her back as he quickly pushed her forward. “Off ya go to yer baby mama; Ima check this cosy town, call me later.” And with that he was gone.

Emma cursed in her mind when Killian just pushed her forward because it seems he just forgot how she complained about the prosthesis issue; she just stumbled a bit but managed to stand tall. “Killian!” Emma almost hissed with his baby mama comment but before she could beat his ass up he was gone…and she was left with Regina and two other women she didn’t know; the awkwardness was even bigger. “I-…I am sorry about him...he’s just…weird.” Emma shrugged not completely sure how to explain Killian’s personality. 

Regina did flinch when she saw how Emma stumbled a bit but she didn’t fully reach out for her because she didn’t know how the blonde would react to that and because there was still a big distance between them. – She frowned when Killian called her baby mama but didn’t blame it on Emma, so when the woman apologized Regina just gave a polite smile. “It’s alright, dear.”

“Mhm.” Emma nodded and pressed her arms against her sides as she bit down on her lower lip and looked around at the backyard, it was indeed a beautiful place and she spotted out an apple tree, but she needed to stop distraction herself. “So…the boy?” She asked awkwardly trying to figure out where her child was.

“Right...” Regina tried to not sound so bothered when Emma simply called Henry ‘the boy’. “Henry, sweetheart, there’s somebody here to see you.” Regina turned around as she looked to find her son looking up at her with his bright green eyes and his mouth still with the pacifier on, it’s a habit she’s having an extreme struggle to make him let go but at least he doesn’t keep it in his mouth as much as he used to.  
Regina got on her knees besides her son and made him stand up as she removed his pacifier and let it hang on his shirt thanks to the clip, then she fixed his clothes, which was dark short overalls and underneath he was wearing a white shirt with short sleeves and a cute dark bow that belonged to the shirt. “Look.” Regina pointed forward and Henry finally looked at Emma, he seemed to be awful curious about her since he took two steps forward.

Emma felt like her world could stop right now because when she saw that little boy all her anxiety disappeared and she felt like she didn’t need those pills anymore. Henry was like a sight for sore eyes and she just wanted to look him up close and actually hold him. “Hii...” She said with a smile as she did her best to crouch down but she knew her limits so she didn’t properly bend down, and that struggle didn’t go unnoticed for Regina.

Henry now frowned when the blonde woman spoke and took his steps back to get back closer to his mother; he even wrapped his arms around his brunette mother’s neck.

“Henry, that’s not nice.” Regina told him when he was trying to hide away so she slowly removed his arms from her neck as he stared at her like he was trying to understand what he did wrong. “Go greet mommy’s friend, okay?” Henry wrinkled his nose at that the best he could because he watched his mother doing it so many times when she seemed to not agree with something, but he looked back at the blonde woman nonetheless and took one step forward but refused to move. He just stood there, holding his tiny hands in front of his chubby belly as green eyes meet each other.

Emma felt very rejected when Henry turned away and went for his mother, maybe Emma should have brought another kind of outfit for his party, but she was just in such a rush through the entire day that she forgot to put some fresh casual clothes in her bag and had no time to go back home and change and then get here in time.  
So she figured being in this outfit that showed her well-muscled and tattooed arms was kind of intimidating for the boy and she was also hoping Regina wasn’t a tattoo hater because Emma got a few of them after having that lust moment with her. “Look what I got here...” Emma quickly snuck her hand inside her tank-top and took out her dog tags that hang on the long necklace. “Would you like to play with it?” She did her best to keep a sweet voice and a kind smile as she shook the dog tags in front of her. She remembered Pan telling her how his daughter liked to play with his dog tags, it was a sad memory to remember but it could be the memory that got her out of this situation.

Henry opened his mouth wider when he saw the dog tags and then began to clap while running up towards Emma with no hesitation. Regina stayed behind with Mal and Kat as the three women watched everything and wondering how well would this reunion go.

Emma’s smile got wider when Henry ran up to her and she allowed him to take her dog tags in his tiny hands as he just began to play with it with a smile. “You like it?” She asked softly as she watched him, Henry nodded his head and kept playing. – Emma finally got the courage and placed her palms against his sides, he didn’t flinch so she picked him up and held him with her two arms and a protective hand against his back because there was no way she was going to drop him.  
“Hey champ, look at me.” She called him but he still kept his view down because now he was too busy playing with the dog tags and he got his pacifier back in his mouth. Emma decided to slightly hold him up, above her head so she could take a better look at him, this action made him drop the tags and the pacifier and he was about to complain if he also didn’t stare quietly at Emma’s face, like he knew who she was.  
“Hii, Henry...” Emma said sweetly as she looked up at him with watery eyes, now all the emotions were truly getting her. He was beautiful, she could see herself in him. She could see her thin lips, her eyes, her fair skin and hoped he’d have the good side of her attitude, she also noticed how he looked like Regina as well. He had that dark brown hair like his mother and those cheek bones; there was no doubt this was hers and Regina’s child.

Henry watched her and noticed tears in her eyes and his mother always taught him when a person cries it means they are sad and in his head kisses makes everything better so he managed to reach out for her cheeks and bent down to give her the best kiss he could against her forehead.

“Oh my god, that’s so cute…” Kat mumbled and Mal elbowed her to stay shut, while Regina was watching everything and trying to not get too emotional.

Emma just let out a low sob when he kissed her forehead and then brought him back down to just be able to give him a strong hug against her chest and hold him like that while she dropped her head down against his tiny shoulder and inhaled his wonderful baby scent. – Her mind still might be with full doubts and questions but she never felt such joy in her life till this day.


	5. "Use My Shoulder"

**Regina’s Mansion**

Soon Emma seemed to calm down with the hugging and Henry had enough of it as well. Emma adjusted her hold on him so he’d be against her side. He still managed to go back at playing with her dog tags as she watched him. He was just pure joy, he was the most beautiful and adorable little boy her eyes ever landed and he was hers. – She removed her green cap from her own head and put it over Henry’s, obviously it was too big for him and the little one just giggled when it covered his eyes and now he was paying more attention to what was on his head than to the dog tags. “Looking handsome.” She commented when Henry just gripped on the edges of the cap with his tiny hands and looked up at Emma with a small toothy smile.

Kathryn grinned and Mal smirked as they were just delighted with the meeting. Regina was feeling a plethora of emotions, but she was very glad that Emma was accepting her son so well and was making him feel very comfortable. “He seems to like it.” Regina commented when she noticed how Henry kept playing with the cap but did not removed it.

“Yea, you like it, champ?” Emma asked as she rubbed his tummy gently with her free hand. Henry giggled again and finally decided to reveal his voice. “Mine!” Staking his claim and Regina was about to say something about it, but Emma was quick to intervene. “Of course, bud. You can keep it. It looks better on you than on me.” She told him before removing the cap from his head. “Let me just see if I can make it better for you.” Emma mumbled as she tried to tighten the cap while holding Henry, it was easy thing to do so, thanks to her strong arms that Henry could easily sat on and watched her as her hands were busy. “Guess this will have to work.” When she was done she put it again on Henry’s head, it wasn’t perfect but at least it wasn’t as big as before.

“Mommy, hat!” Henry quickly pointed out as he placed his palm over his own head and look at his brunette mother. 

“Yes, sweetheart. You like it?” Regina smiled and approached them.

“Yes.” Henry mumbled as he still kept messing around with the cap.

“Who knew you’d find the cap so amusing, kid. But I got you a better gift.” Emma told him as her eyes kept only focused on him, taking mental notes of every detail of the toddler’s appearance.

“You bought him a gift?” Regina quickly asked.

“Of course.” Emma now looked at Regina. “I know I have been away from the normal world, but I think it’s still customary to get gifts for the birthday boy.” Emma chuckled at her owns words.

“Yes, of course.” Regina now felt her question as silly, but she just hoped it was only one gift, that Emma didn’t get too many to just spoil Henry. She didn’t want the blonde to buy her son’s love.

Emma went back to watch Henry for another few seconds as he was now playing the peekaboo game with her by using the cap and that just made her smile wider. She was glad he was an easy kid, because she really didn’t know how she was going to deal with an anti-social kid that was not used to strangers. “So!” Emma quickly looked back at Regina. “Do you need help with anything? Or is everything already done?”

“I- uh, everything’s settled. I was just going to prepare some dessert.” 

“Do you want me to help you with that?” Emma asked, trying her best to be polite and void the all questions that floated around them, and try make this less awkward.

“I will be fine, dear.” Regina gave a reassuring smile. “I’ve got them with me.” She pointed at the two blonde sisters that still stood there, watching everything with a smile.

Emma now looked over Regina’s shoulder to find the two blondes. “Are they your friends?”

“Oh yes, how rude of me.” Regina then turned around to face the blondes. “Girls, let me introduce you.”

“About damn time.” Kathryn mumbled under her breath as she quickly approached them along with Mal.

“Kathryn, this is Emma. – Emma, Kathryn.” Regina gestured with her hands. “And that’s Mal. They are both sisters and my best friends since I can remember.”

“A pleasure.” Emma quickly put a polite closed smile and stretched out her free hand, Kathryn was the first one to shake it and she could feel Emma’s strong handshake, then it was Mal’s turn and Emma had to just ask. “So your name is Mal?”

“Her name is actually Marceline, but she hates it.” Kathryn quickly snitched.

“Why don’t you just grab my record?” Mal commented as she looked at her sister with a frown.

“Oh please, Marceline isn’t that bad.” Kat scoffed.

“It’s as awful as Kathryn.” Mal mumbled under her breath as she took a sip from her white wine, this woman seemed to have her hands always busy with a glass of a drink.

“Hey! It’s not!” Kat quickly gasped and Regina just began to shake her head before look at Emma.

“This is the usual sister’s argument. They will get tired soon.” Regina told Emma as they both watched how the blonde sisters carried on with their rant. 

“Well they seem lovely, anyway.” Emma commented.

“They can be.” Regina agreed before clap her hands together. “Well, I guess I have to make that dessert now before the parents and the other kids show up.” Regina then softly caressed her son’s chubby pale cheek with the back of her index finger. “You can play with Henry, if you want. As you can see there’s that comfortable surface we just made, or you can use his slide over there.” Regina then pointed at the colourful small slide in the garden.

“Alright, don’t you worry about us, we will have an adventure.” Emma told Regina before looking at Henry and quickly tickled his tummy with her free hand, making the little boy throw a fit of giggles that Emma grew to love the adorable sound.

“Have fun, Henry.” Regina mumbled as she pecked her son’s chubby arm before turning to the blonde sisters who seemed to calm down with the argument. She grabbed their elbows, dragging them back into the mansion so they could help her out with the dessert and then all of the gossip could start.

“So she seems very happy with Henry.” Mal commented as she was watching the blonde soldier playing with the toddler. 

“I know right! Everything was just adorable. She cried!” Kat quickly exclaimed.

“Yes, she did.” Regina mumbled with a small smile as she was now working on the dessert, it was mostly for the adults; the other little kids were getting as much healthy stuff as possible.

“Do you think she’s going to stick around?” Kat asked as she began to eat the freshly cleaned grapes that were on the counter.

“I don’t want to really think about that right now.” Regina admitted as she fixed her apron. “I just want to enjoy my son’s birthday and hope he has a great time.”

“He for sure is having fun.” Mal commented as she pointed at the window that revealed Emma laying on her back over the grass and she was making Henry ‘fly’, the little boy seemed to be having the time of his live. “She seems to be very good with him.”

“Only time will tell.” Regina appreciated how Emma was having fun with her son and how she was playing with him, but this did not mean that Emma was ‘parenting material’. This just meant that Emma was trying to adjust through the best way possible, by making things light and fun. 

“Loosen up, Gi’” Kat told her friend as she began to help her out with the desert. “Everything’s going work out fine.”  
Regina simply smiled and nodded her head, hoping that indeed things would work out fine. She would lie if she said she didn’t want Emma around, because she did. She needed her around, she needed Henry to have another parent because she just couldn’t explain to the older Henry how he came to this world and why he doesn’t have two parents. She just wanted to protect him from everything and she hoped that Emma wouldn’t bring any harm.

Back at the garden, Emma was now playing on the slide with Henry. She’d just put him on top and let him slide down on his own, and every time he slid down he’d just let his butt bump against the ground and then he’d quickly get up and run towards Emma so she could put him on top of the slide again. “Having fun, bud?” Emma asked with a smile as she picked him up again and put him on top of the slide. He refused to climb the stairs because every time Emma picked him up she pretended he was a plane before settling him back down on the slide.

“Mowe, mowe!” Henry demanded as he laughed out loud and when he was back on the slide, he quickly pushed his own self forward so he could slide down again, and when he was back on the ground he ran up to Emma again. The blonde picked him up and put him over the slide but at some point he lost his balance and instead of sliding down, he basically rolled to the opposite side of the slide and he was going to fall off of it if not for Emma’s incredible reflexes. 

“Henry!” Emma quickly gasped for him and threw herself forward, all she cared was about to grab him and make sure he wouldn’t hurt himself. So she managed to catch him but she fell against the ground and over the slide, it kind of hurt falling over the plastic object but the very moment she heard a ‘crack she knew she had bigger issues than a bruise. 

“Huh, I think the soldier just went into super woman mode.” Mal commented because she was the only one who watched what happened.

“What you mean?” Regina quickly asked as she began to wipe her hands on her apron.

“Everything’s fine, I think. But Henry was about to fall off the slide and she was quick to grab him. She basically threw herself to the other side to just catch the kid.” Mal informed.

“What?!” Regina felt panic quickly fill her heart as her lungs stopped giving her air for a second.

“Regina, he is fine.” Mal assured her as the three women were looking at the window and saw Emma laying on her back and with Henry over her chest.

“You okay, bud?” Emma quickly asked as she looked down at the toddler over her torso.

“Fun!” Henry quickly commented with a big smile as he rolled off the blonde’s torso and got on his knees over the grass besides her.

“You thought that was fun?” Emma asked him with a nervous smile.

“Yea!” He nodded his head before sitting up and putting his pacifier in his mouth.

“Well I am just glad you are okay.” Emma told him with a relieved sigh. Here she was about to have a heart attack and Henry was just peacefully sucking on his pacifier and making his way back to the slide, this time using the stairs. “Henry, be careful.” She reminded him as she slowly stood up, only using her real leg, and when she decided to use her fake one, she quickly stumbled but managed to hold her ground. _Fuck its broken…_

“He’s fine but I think something’s wrong with her.” Kathryn said with a slight frown as she tilted her head to the side.

“Maybe she hurt herself on the fall?” Mal asked as Regina was quick to remove her apron and go outside to check on them.

“Emma, are you alright?” Regina quickly asked as she stepped in the garden and looked at her toddler. He seemed perfectly fine, he was even adjusting himself better on top of the slide before sliding down. 

“I- I am fine!” Emma replayed as she quickly hid her fake leg behind the slide. 

“You sure?” Regina frowned slightly as she approached them.

“Totally. Henry almost fell but he’s fine, don’t worry. I will watch him better.” Emma tried to not stutter as she was also feeling guilty at how Henry could easily get hurt, and she was already waiting for Regina’s mama bear mode, but the brunette proved her wrong.

“I am sure you will.” Regina smiled softly. “I will be inside finishing the dessert but if you need anything, just call me, okay?”

“Yes, don’t worry.” Emma quickly nodded and put a tight smile on her face, she wanted Regina to just go so she could check what was really wrong with the prosthesis. – Regina then decided to take her leave since she figured Emma wasn’t going to tell her anything.

When Regina was done and Henry carried on with his play, she quickly took a look down at her leg and didn’t see anything wrong with it, but every time she tried to put her stub on it, it would just give in. She was sure something got fucked up at the ankle or knee zone or whatever. Emma mentally groaned as she bent down to see if she could make something better, but she didn’t want to lift up the pants with Henry around. She knows he’s too little and maybe he wouldn’t say anything about it, but what if he got curious and asked bunch of questions? Emma wasn’t ready to deal with an interrogation from a two-year-old.   
Now her issue was how she was going to get out of this mess? There was no way she could walk out, back to her jeep and figure out a plan. Hell, the only plan available was to take off the prosthesis and use her crutches.   
However, she wasn’t going to freak out everybody that was about to come to the party. Ugh, I need a new and better leg. She knew she should’ve gotten the best prosthesis out there, but she was still trying to get used to it and to find out what was best for her before go make a personalized leg prosthesis. 

“Mowe plane?” Henry gently asked with a pout as he looked up at Emma with bright big eyes.

And Emma couldn’t say no to the little one. “Of course, little monkey!” Emma quickly grinned and picked him up, doing her best to only use one leg and make him ‘fly’ for few seconds before settle him on the ground and let him run around. She was doing too much and her limb skin was getting too sore. It was raw against the prosthesis and it hurt her like hell, especially now that is broken. – She knew her only way out of this was to request Regina to go get her crutches from her jeep. She could just make up that her limb was sore and the help of the crutches would be pleasant right now, ooor she could just call Killian and make him do it for her, that way she didn’t have to ask Regina for anything. She just hoped her friend was fast to come from his tour around the town or whatever he was really doing.  
Emma began to search for her phone through her pockets and she began to panic when she couldn’t find it. Oooh fuck, I left it in the car. She really had bad luck, she knew she couldn’t walk up to the car so Emma had to just put her pride aside and ask for Regina’s help.

“Regina, I think she’s calling for you.” Kathryn called out for her friend since she was by the window watching everything.

“Will you stop being a creep and give them their space? You just keep watching them out of the window.” Mal commented with a light frown.

“You were watching them before too.” Kat frowned at her sister.

“You two just drop it.” Regina sighed out and went to the window and noticed that Emma was moving her hands like telling her to get closer. “Watch the pudding.” Regina told Kat before shoving the apron in her hands and walk back to the garden.  
“Need something?” Regina asked as she saw her son now rolling around the grass and playing with his toys. Why did she even bothered to put the puzzle pieces together to make a comfortable surface? He was just going to get himself dirty over the grass.

“Well I…” Emma bit the inside of her cheek before sigh. “I actually need your help.”

“What is it?” Regina frowned slightly and approached, noticing the mood change.

“My limb is really sore.” She admitted the half-truth as she pointed down at her fake leg. “And the crutches would be a huge help right now. They are actually in the back of my car, could you please get them for me?” Emma just decided to say it all, be direct, instead of coughing out words and never get them right.

“Of course.” Regina quickly replied with no problem at all, she figured something was already wrong with Emma before and she wondered when was the blonde going to break and just talk to her. “Just give me your car keys and I will get them for you.”

Emma was slightly taken back at how Regina responded and didn’t even ask her what was really wrong, something Emma really appreciated it because she really didn’t like to talk about her problem. The less she talked about it, the less it become real. “Well I...” Now Emma realized she didn’t find her phone nor her keys. “Oh goddamnit, Jones!” Emma groaned before palm her face.

Regina perked up an eyebrow, wondering what was wrong now, but she figured it had to do with the friend she brought along. “What’s the matter?”

“He took everything.” Emma huffed. “I don’t have my phone or my keys, I am pretty sure the damn bastard just took my jeep and went to tour around the goddamn town.” Emma frustrated stated, letting her language get the best of her.

And Regina was very glad that Henry was busier in his play than paying attention to their conversation, because she didn’t want the little boy to learn those words any time soon. “Do you want to use my phone to call him?” Regina suggested.

“If you don’t mind.” Emma gave a sheepish smile, aware of how slightly her behaviour changed, she was just so frustrated.

“It wouldn’t be a problem, dear. I will go get it.” Regina told her before go back inside to get her cell phone and in few seconds she was back, handing it to Emma.

The blonde thought Regina would ask for the number and she’d make the the call before letting Emma to use her phone, but thee brunette just willingly gave her phone like that after unlocking it. “Thanks.” She mumbled and began to type down Killian’s phone as she waited for the fool to answer, she just hoped he didn’t leave the phone in the car as he went for a walk or whatever.

Regina was now slightly busy with her son, because the little one ran up to her and wanted her to play with him, so she gave him the attention needed.  
“Oh Killian, thank god.” Emma quickly felt relieved when he picked up the call. “Listen, I need you to get your ass back here because my prosthesis just broke and I need the freaking crutches.” Emma cursed in a hushed tone and with her head away, so nobody would see the all frustration and slight anger across her face. – And after few more seconds of cursing through the phone with Killian, she finally managed to make her friend come back to give her the crutches.   
When she was done with the call, she quickly put a polite smile on her face and turned to face Regina and Henry, who were playing over the grass. Emma just stayed quiet for a while, slightly using the slide for some kind of support every time her leg got tired. – Watching Regina and Henry was just beautiful, this could have been her life, right? If she didn’t go for military first, she could have had this…maybe not with Regina or with Henry, maybe with somebody else a new family, but at least it was a family, something that Emma never experienced and only now she was realizing how much she needed and wanted it.

“So, is he coming?” Regina finally spoke as she tucked Henry against her hip and the little brunette was nomming on his pacifier again and with his head laying on top of Regina’s chest, he seemed ready to take a nap. 

“Yes, he is. Thank you.” Emma handed Regina her phone. “He seems tired.” Emma pointed out as she took a look down at Henry.

“My pleasure, dear.” Regina reassured Emma as the took her phone back. “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that. He might be ready for a nap now but when he sees the all fuss of the party, he will just get excited all over again.” Regina told her with a smile as she looked down at her son in her arms, and god, how much she wished that pacifier to be out of his mouth. She even tried it, she slowly took it from Henry’s mouth but the toddler just began to let out a fake whimper and grabbed his pacifier to put it back in his mouth.

“He for sure loves that.” Emma commented when she noticed Henry putting the pacifier back in his mouth and allowiing his eyes to slowly close.

“It’s a habit I am trying to make him let go. He already has a good amount of teeth to carry on with the pacifier.” Regina explained. “I wasn’t even a big fan of pacifier when I was his age.” She then looked up at Emma.

And Emma quickly caught the hint, but she really had no answer for the brunette. “I don’t know.” Emma sincerely admitted because she really didn’t know shit about herself as a baby, she doesn’t even have pictures. “He will end up getting tired of it. Let him find out about lollipops and he won’t want to chomp on another thing.”

Regina smiled sadly, trying to not scold herself at how she doesn’t know the blonde’s past. She knew she was in the military academy since when she was little, did this meant that Emma’s childhood was that sad? That miserable? Or just simple forgotten? “Oh please god no.” Regina quickly said. “I’d rather have him a little longer on the pacifier than on the candies.” 

“Huh, well if it’s in the genes then you will have a big sugar fan right there.” Emma awkwardly stated, remembering well in her teen years how much she loved sugar, maybe because in the academy there was always a strict amount of what they should get. You know what they say when something’s forbidden you just want it more.

Regina chuckled lowly at that. “Then we won’t start his addiction anytime soon.” She said before kissing her son’s head, still loving how thin and soft his hair was against his lips and at how he still held that wonderful baby scent. “Do you want to wait inside for your friend?” Regina asked.

Emma smiled at how Regina said ‘we’ and not ‘I’, it was a small thing that made a huge difference for Emma, and it was helping her more on what kind of decisions she should make. “Huh, I would but...” Emma pressed her lips together before letting out an annoyed sigh. “I really can’t take a step without falling. Unless I just skip up to the mansion.” 

Regina put on a thinking expression as she was trying to figure out the best way to solve this, she thought bringing out a chair in here would just be silly, so maybe helping Emma to get in the mansion would be the best choice. “Well what about you use my shoulder as a support and you skip to the mansion?” Regina asked.

Emma frowned at that, not noticing any kind of mocking or pity emotion in Regina’s eyes. This woman was a mystery, she was doing her best to help Emma but at the same time acting like Emma had no problem at all, like this was the most normal thing ever, and that was exactly what Emma needed right now. “I don’t want to put too much pressure on your arm.” 

“I will be fine. I am much tougher than I look like.” Regina gave a small smirk before stepping closer to Emma and turning her back at her, allowing her to use her right shoulder as Henry stayed on her left side.

“I am sure you are.” Emma chuckled lowly as she decided to place her hand upon the brunette’s shoulder and give a squeeze, basically testing out the strength she should put on the woman’s shoulder. “I am going to make you bounce.” Emma said.

“It’s fine.” Regina assured her as she took a step forward.

And Emma skipped. “I am probably pressing too much weight on your shoulder.”

“You are not.” Regina reassured her as she took another step and Emma skipped again.

Emma figured there wasn’t anything else she could say to make the brunette change her mind because they already took couple of steps forward and they keep on going. “Does my tattoos bothered you?” Emma blurted out.

“Why would they?” Regina frowned slightly at that, wanting nothing more than to turn around and look at the blonde in the eyes but she knew she couldn’t change their position.

“Well I…I don’t know. Most people don’t like it, and I know I shouldn’t have come in here with this kind of outfit.” Emma sighed. “I just left the base this morning, I was in a rush the entire day and I forgot to pack casual clothes.”

Regina knew she had stared at Emma’s tattoos early, but it was only to figure out what kind of things she had on her arms, she actually found them very appealing. “You don’t have to apologize for that. You are clothed, that’s all the matters.” Regina let out a chuckle. “Plus your tattoos don’t bother me at all, for all that counts I think they look cool.” 

Emma now had to stop when Regina said the last word. “Did you just say ‘cool’?” The blonde asked.

“Isn’t that the word people usually use to describe it?” Regina perked up an eyebrow as she looked up at Emma.

“Yes but, I wouldn’t take you for a woman that used common teen words.” Emma teased her.

“Oh please, I can talk like a sailor if I want to.” Regina rolled her eyes as she took another step forward.

“Oh you for sure can’t beat me on that.” Emma commented.

Soon they got inside the mansion, Regina went upstairs to put Henry down so he could take a quick nap and Emma quickly sat down on a chair by the table that was all decorated (pirate themed) and a cake in the middle. “Looking good.” Emma commented as she took a better look at her surroundings, Regina’s mansion seemed huge and fancy from the outside and now she was sure it was the same from the inside.

“We got him pirate stuff because he picked a sword instead of a horse.” Kathryn quickly said as she sat across Emma. Emma was slightly confused at that because she didn’t know the process they went through to pick the theme for Henry’s party.

“We placed two toys on the ground for him to choose, a sword or a horse. The horse would indicate cowboys and the sword the pirates and he sadly picked the sword.” Mal cleared out the situation for Emma.

“Oh.” Emma rubbed her cheek. “I think cowboys are cooler though.”

“Thank you, that’s what I said.” Mal said with a proud expression.

“Huh, no. Pirates are better cause of the all sailing.” Kathryn quickly interfered. 

“Yes but the cowboys have the horses.” Mal commented.

“And guns.” Emma added, and the sisters were not surprised that was Emma’s thoughts.

“Are you two still fighting over the pirates and cowboys? The decorations are already all set, it’s too late now.” Regina spoke as she was stepping back in the kitchen.

“Well it seems everybody is on the cowboy’s side now!” Kathryn almost whined. 

“They are indeed better cause of the horses.” Regina commented.

“Oh not you too.” Kat groaned. “I only got my dear munchkin to agree with me on the pirates.”

And everybody just laughed at that and Emma was enjoying how light the atmosphere just got, they weren’t making her feel out of place. They were very welcoming and they weren’t throwing questions at her face even though she knew they were dying to.

Soon the door-bell rang and Regina went open the door for Killian to step in with crutches on his hands.

“Oh look who decided to be a normal person and use the door.” Emma grinned as she watched her friend stepping inside the kitchen with Regina.

“Duude, ye won’t believe what I just saw.” Killian simple ignored Emma’s words.

“What?” Emma perked up an eyebrow and everybody got curious.

“There’s this cute little diner called Grannies and like it has, listen carefully, it has the best leggy waitress I have ever seen in my life.” Killian blurted out and Emma felt just embarrassed, her friend really had no filter and the other three women knew exactly who he was talking about.

“Do you have your hormones on check, Jones?” Emma snarled as she snatched the crutches away from his hand. 

“What?” Killian frowned at that as he looked around at the three women who were giving him judging looks. “I am an honest lad! I say what I think, aye?” 

“Of course you do.” Emma rolled her eyes. “But what about you focus on your girlfriend and not stare at waitress legs?!” 

“Huh, trust me, mate. If ye had seen her, ya would be drooling.” Killian chuckled.

“Would not, stop.” Emma quickly mumbled, not wanting to get more embarrassed.

“Plus, aint no Charlotte in mah life no more.” Killian swatted the air with his hands.

“What do you mean?” Emma perked up an eyebrow, now getting curious and Mal and Kathryn were loving the gossip.

“She got knocked up.” Killian shrugged.

“You got her pregnant?!” This time it wasn’t only Emma who gasped and asked that, it was Kathryn as well, the woman was getting into the story as well.

“Aye, no no no!” Killian quickly groaned as he now looked at the two women. “I’d never create a little monstah!” and Emma gave him a glare, so did Regina. “Never create my own monster, then. My genes aren’t the best.” 

“Sooo…you telling us, she got pregnant by somebody else?” Kathryn carefully asked and Regina felt like smacking her friend for being so nosy.

“That’s right, lass!” Killian quickly pointed at Kathryn. “And and, she was going to make me take care of the child!” Killian gasped as he looked now at his old friend.

Emma had just her mouth half opened and a not so amused expression on. “How would she do that?”

“Cause she wasn’t going to tell me about the affair!” Killian huffed.

“Oh look at that, you were one step closer to hell but two closer to heaven.” Mal finally decided to make her voice known.

And Killian laughed out loud because he got the hint.

“Did you just said parenting is hell?” Regina asked as she perked up an eyebrow.

“Gina, dear, I love Henry, I really do, but I wouldn’t want to have my own kids.” Mal answered her.

“I think having kids is lovely.” Emma quickly blurted out, knowing very well soon eyes would be on her and question what she thought about parenting. She knows she can’t say much about it since she just met the kid today, but she’s starting to looking forward for it and enjoy it.

“Yes, it is.” Regina proudly stated with a smile, very relieved that was what Emma thought about parenthood.

“I like being the aunt.” Mal shrugged.

“Okay, now that you got my crutches, you can go and carry on with whatever you were doing.” Emma told Killian.

“Nah, I was going to ask the missy long legs for a date but she doesn’t swing to my team.” 

“Huh…you mean, she’s..?” 

“Yup, totally into chicks, mate! I saw her kissing this pretty petite brunette in a corner. It was hot.” Killian admitted with a grin.

“Okay, I can’t believe you. You aren’t even three hours in this town, and you are already checking out every woman out there!?” Emma smacked him with her crutch. 

“What’s the problem with that?!” Killian cringed as he stepped away from Emma’s grasp. “I am single and ready to mingle.” He smirked and then looked at Mal.

“As much fun I would have with younger man like you, I don’t wish to go through the headache.”

Then Killian looked at Regina.

“Don’t even think about it.” Two people said at the same time; one voice belonged to Regina and another to Emma. Regina knew very well why she said no, because well, Killian obviously wasn’t her type, but she didn’t know why Emma said that. So chocolate eyes meet green ones in an intrigued way, but Emma was becoming self-aware of her outburst and everything was becoming very awkward and anxiety was about to strike her.  
Believe it or not, Regina quickly noticed the small ways Emma’s face muscles twitched and she knew the blonde was panicking again, she noticed it back at the base when she told the Henry news. “Just take Kathryn.” Regina quickly changed the attention from her and Emma.

“Well, she definitely a pearl, isn’t she?” Killian grinned and eyed Kathryn up and down.

The blonde could be offended but she didn’t, she actually blushed and giggled at it, acting like a school girl all over again.

“Oh god, your flirting sucks.” Emma mumbled and that earned a chuckle from everybody in the room but Killian still thought his pickup line was perfect.


	6. A Week

**Regina’s Mansion**

It didn’t take long for the parents and toddlers to arrive. There was a fairly decent amount of people, but Emma noticed how they simply chatted with each other and only greeted Regina. They didn’t waste their time in long conversations with the host but Regina kept herself busy nonetheless. She seemed to be always checking on the food or how everything was and obviously check Henry more times than actually necessary. 

Henry was playing with his blocks with other kids, or at least he should be playing with the other kids but he decided to just make his own tower while the others played together. Emma at first thought it was because Henry didn’t feel like sharing but he didn’t take any blocks from the other kids. Even if he had less than the others he was still satisfied with what he had and played with his own. 

“The kid is building an epic tower.” Emma commented when she noticed that Regina was back to the garden and was standing behind her.

“Indeed.” Regina checked on Henry again and she sighed when she noticed he wasn’t playing with the other kids. The whole point of inviting all of these people she clearly had no close friendship with was to make Henry interact with the other toddlers, yet there he was in his own spot, playing. “He isn’t playing with the other children.”

Emma was sitting on a chair around a table clearly all set up to fit the perfect garden. – She took a look at Regina and noticed concern in her facial expression, so she decided to try to do something about that. “Huh, he’s still too young to be a loner.” She shrugged. “Give him few more minutes and he will be chasing the girls around.” She tried to brighten up the mood.

Regina appreciated how Emma tried to cheer her up and she actually smiled at her last words. “Why is that? Did you by any chance passed womanizer genes?” 

Emma wrinkled her nose at the word ‘womanizer’. “Not a chance. He will just find them pretty and be nice to them. Doesn’t exactly mean he will try to flirt.”

“Oh, Miss Swan.” Regina chuckled and rose her eyebrows. “I do hope my son doesn’t start flirting at such age.”

“You know what I meant.” Emma then made a face. “And no Miss Swan thing.”

“Force of habit.” Regina shrugged, she was just so used to being formal and polite to everybody that it just became a habit.

“Swan, everybody is married.” Killian interrupted their conversation as he approached the two women with a beer in his hand, which was something he thought would be hard to find because when the parents arrived there mostly were women and he never thought Regina would have beer. The only reason why Regina bought beer this time was actually because of Emma.

Emma snorted at her friend’s words. “Already searching for a catch?” 

“Aye! But this is like having bunch of fish stare at ya and every time ye try catch them, they just dodge.”

Regina perked up an eyebrow at the example he used.

“Huh, what?” Emma chuckled as she took a sip of her beer.

Killian sighed and sat down on a chair across his friend. “They get all interested in ya’ cause ye know, the soldier thing.” He rolled his eyes and Emma nodded. “But when ye start flirtin’, they are like ‘Oh, my husband loves that.’” He did his best to make a feminine voice.

Emma just laughed at him and smirked. “Ah, the hubby doesn’t have to know.”

“Ooh! You play a dangerous game, mate!” Killian let out a throaty chuckle as the both friends clicked their beers against each other. The two soldiers didn’t seem to notice the judgemental looks they were getting from Regina and also from the two sisters, Kathryn and Mal who just joined them. “Lads, it’s just a joke.” Killian quickly spoke when he noticed the three women.

Emma looked over her shoulder to show a sheepish smile, of course she didn’t mean that. “We aren’t douches to that point.” 

“Aye! A soldier is savage but a gentleman!” Killian proudly stated and Emma just rolled her eyes with a small smile.

“They just have their moments, don’t they?” Mal commented as she decided to sit down by the table like them.

“That we do, ma’am.” Killian smirked when he saw Mal sitting down and then his eyes landed on Kathryn who also sat down. “But I’d like to be gentleman most of the times for the pretty ladies.” 

The looks between Killian and Kathryn didn’t go unnoticed and people didn’t exactly know how to feel about that.

“How is the dating life for you two?” Kathryn decided to ask because she was curious if this Killian was single and ready to mingle. 

“Could be a lot better.” Killian’s upper lip twitched as he made himself more comfortable in his seat.

“Yea, sorry about your girlfriend.” Kathryn gave a small smile.

“Certainly there’s always fun for you two though.” Mal commented after taking a glance at Regina who still stood up, in a rigid posture and she couldn’t know if the woman was feeling uncomfortable with this subject or worried.

“Ah, aye but mostly there are one night stands.” Killian replayed.

“Why?” Kathryn asked.

“Because there aren’t many people willing to spend their lives with a soldier.” Emma answered with a shrug.

“Mhm, so we mostly get exciting one night stands every time we are off duty.” Killian added.

“Exciting night stands.” Mal commented with a not so amused tone.

“A lad has needs nonetheless!” Killian quickly said. “And I ain’t no playboy runnin’ around.” He swatted the air with his hand. “I’ve actually had a few girlfriends in the past. There was one that lasted three years!” He proudly stated.

Emma snorted. “Three years and you both spent the first two years on and off. Only on the last year you decided to make it official and you guys couldn’t deal with each other.”

Killian wrinkled his nose at that. “Still counts.” She gave him a look and he just pointed at her. “What about ye, Swan!? I’ve known ye for years and not once I’ve seen yer girl!”

“Because ‘my girl’ is non-existent.” Emma muttered while taking a sip of her beer.

“How many girlfriends have you had?” Kathryn quickly asked the blonde soldier, very curious about this and it took everything in Mal and Regina to not smack the nosy woman.

Emma made a face as she looked up at the sky, wondering what should she really answer. “Real girlfriends? Just one.” 

“Wow.” This time it was Mal commenting because she was surprised somebody like Emma only had one girlfriend.

“Aww, it’s ye high school sweetheart, right?” Killian asked and Emma quickly frowned at him.

“Not exactly but if you put it that way it’s called military academy sweetheart.” She didn’t feel very comfortable with this topic, she didn’t want to talk about her only real girlfriend, it brought painful memories.

“What happened to the lass then? Is she at the base?” 

“No. She didn’t continue this lifestyle. She left the academy when she was nineteen.” 

And then there was silence, Regina noticed how Emma was awful uncomfortable with this so she was about to speak if Kathryn wasn’t so curious about everything.

“But why not date more?” The blonde woman asked and this time Emma chuckled, but it was a rather dark chuckle.

“Cause for that you gotta be dating material.” Emma responded before placing her beer over the table. “And I am so not.”

“Nonsense. You are just fine.” These words wouldn’t surprise anybody but the person who said them made everybody control their urge to not gasp but they stared at who said it. Regina looked at them, not understanding why there were glares but she clearly wasn’t going to deal with that so she gave a quick forced smile and turned on her heel, back into the mansion.

The male soldier decided to move the attention away from the brunette. “Aww, Swan. We are a lil’ bit fucked up but we still got it in us!” Killian teased as he punched his friend’s arm; for the two best friends the punch was considered a light one but for those around them the punch looked like it hurt.

Emma rolled her eyes and shook her head with a forced smile. They weren’t just a little bit fucked up, they were just too fucked up, maybe Killian wasn’t as much as she was but she knew the all issues she had and there’s no way she was dating material. Nobody would be up to date a soldier woman without a leg, fucked up past, anxiety disorder and PTSD; that all combined would be way too much baggage for somebody to take. Not even Emma was able to deal with herself so why would somebody else do it? – But the way Regina quickly spoke her opinion made Emma feel slightly happy, it was just five words but it was enough to warm up the cold beaten up soldier’s heart. Killian carried on talking with both Mal and Kathryn and Emma sometimes would make a comment here and there but she was too lost in her thoughts to be fully into that conversation. It was actually rare the moments she was invested in conversations, sure she would chat but her mind was never completely there; her mind was always wandering to somewhere else and sometimes to nothing. 

But soon she would be ripped out of her thoughts because of a loud high pitched baby scream. In a second she was back to the real world and her eyes quickly laid on the infants as she was already grabbing her crutches. Maybe it was Henry screaming but when she looked for the kid, he was playing with his blocks.

“I was wondering when the tantrums would start.” Mal commented with a not so amused tone as she took a sip of her white wine.

Regina soon stepped outside again, this time wiping her hands on some towel. She knew this wasn’t Henry’s scream. She knew her son too well, but she still needed to know if a child’s tantrum would lead to toddlers fighting each other over toys.

But everybody was surprised when they witnessed Henry walking up to the screaming girl and hand her one of his blocks. That seemed to calm her down because she took the block and looked up at Henry who was going back to where he left his blocks to get another one and walk back to the girl to give her that one as well. 

He was sharing and feeling empathy and Regina couldn’t be happier. She always feared Henry wouldn’t fit in with the other kids because of how much time he spends with her and around the adults, but right now he just made a friend and Regina was glad inviting all these people wouldn’t be in vain.

“Swan! Maybe we should learn some lessons with yer lad over there.” Killian pointed out as he laughed.

Emma and Regina shared a kind look before the blonde looked back at her son. “Indeed, he’s a charmer.” The blonde proudly stated.

Regina rolled her eyes with a small smile. “He’s not charming her; he’s making a friend.”

“And that’s exactly how you charm, lady.” Emma smirked as she grabbed her beer again.

“Oh, speaking of experience?” Regina perked up a perfect eyebrow as she eyed the blonde soldier.

Emma looked up at her and gave her a cocky look. “Maybe.” She didn’t know why but it was just easy to talk with Regina, that’s why she was already comfortable enough to mess around, but maybe that’s because she isn’t between four walls and it isn’t just her and Regina.

**......**

It didn’t take long for Regina to request Kathryn to film the party with the camera she bought when she got Henry because she wanted to have his precious moments saved somewhere else that wouldn’t just be in her mind.

Mal was hanging out with some adults and time to time would be with Regina to ask if she needed help because the brunette was always finding something to do. – Killian went ‘fishing’ again for the ladies in hopes there was a single one. Kathryn was very beautiful but he thought it was kind of weird to try his luck with her when she seemed to be his best friend’s baby mama best friend, if that even made sense.

Emma was still in her spot, not doing anything and it was bothering her because this gave her time to think and spend more time with herself, which was something she really didn’t want to. She’d watch Henry most of the time but eventually her mind would always wander to something else and Emma simply couldn’t take it anymore. She had to find something to do, so she grabbed her crutches and stood up, looking around to figure out what to do. Maybe she could go check on Regina but then she noticed the brunette was in a group of people that were as well dressed as she was and Emma figured it was business people. She’d totally make a big contrast there, more than she already is doing, since it was only her and Killian in part of their uniforms.

She huffed out air, making her lips smack against each other as she kept thinking on what to do. Then something clicked when her eyes landed on Kathryn and the filming camera, that’s it! She should just go around and record everything, at least she would have something to do, so without much second thoughts she walked up to the blonde woman. “Hey Kathryn.” Emma made her presence known.

Kathryn just turned around still holding the camera up and was now filming Emma, who quickly got shy in front of the camera. “What’s up?” The blonde woman asked with a big smile.

“I was wondering if I could be the one filming now?” 

“Oh, sure!” She was about to hand the camera but she didn’t know how since Emma’s hands were busy with the crutches.

“Can you hold this for me?” The soldier lowly asked as she was handing Kathryn her right crutch. The other woman took it with no problem, like that they traded the crutch for the camera. – Emma stood there with the camera in her right hand as she had most of her height on her right leg.

Kathryn didn’t know how well Emma would walk just with one crutch but she decided to not comment it. “Just make sure to take good shots of your son. Regina will flip if she doesn’t have 99% of the video with Henry’s face.” She joked.

Emma just smiled as she was testing the camera, seeing how well it recorded. “Of course I am filming that champ. Wouldn’t want to upset the mama bear.” Emma chuckled.

“Great, then have fun. I will put your crutch in the kitchen, okay?”

“Okay, thank you.” And with that Emma managed to walk away with just one crutch. It wasn’t an easy feat; she knew her prosthesis was broken but it was still good enough to take light weight. So every time she took a step forward with her left leg she used all her arm strength on the crutch to keep moving. – She decided to film more what Henry was up to with the little girl as well.

Kathryn soon went to the kitchen and found her sister drinking another glass of white wine and she can’t understand how she’s never drunk. “Have you heard this thing called juice? I heard it’s actually tasty and healthier.” She mocked.

And Mal quickly rolled her eyes a she leaned her hips against the balcony. “Have you heard about minding your own business?” Mal was quick to fire back.

“Have you heard about politeness?” Kat frowned at her sister.

“Have you hear-“ Before Mal could say something else, Regina stepped in.

“Please tell me we aren’t again in another Armstrong sister argument.” Regina said as she looked at the both sisters.

“Nope. Mal was here being just rude.” Kat commented and Mal simple scoffed. “Because I am the one with no manners.”

Regina just rolled her eyes. “Anyway, why do you have that?” Regina pointed at the crutch in Kathryn’s hand.

Kat was still giving her sister deadly glares till Regina snapped her out of it. “Oh! Emma wanted to film the party, so you know, she gave me this to have one hand free.” Kathryn told her as she was now putting the crutch away.

Regina just frowned at that because she wasn’t sure how Emma was managing to move around just with one crutch. Didn’t she say her limb was sore? Wouldn’t that make it even worse? So why was she doing it?

Both sister sensed that Regina felt troubled about that, so Kat was quick to put her at ease. “Don’t worry, she seemed perfectly fine and she asked me for the camera. I think she was probably feeling bored; her handsome friend left her behind to try his luck with the ladies.” 

“I am surprised he hasn’t jump on you yet.” Mal commented.

“I know right?!” Kat almost whined with a pout.

“Maybe you aren’t appealing enough. You should unbutton that shirt a little bit.” Mal suggested.

And while the sisters were talking nonsense, Regina decided to go search for the blonde soldier, just to make sure everything was alright with her and that she wasn’t having much trouble. – She didn’t want to feel pity for her, because that’s something everybody loathed and Regina was not going to make Emma feel like she is somebody who just lost everything and needed help.

Soon she found the soldier, filming the kids dancing thanks to some music that Regina wasn’t aware she had it on. That’s when her eyes landed on Killian who was besides Emma, the male soldier was the one playing some music on his phone and the kids were having their fun with their dance.

Regina decided to not interfere with anything, she simply watched how her son seemed so happy jumping and trying to not stumble while trying to dance. She was glad he was having fun and Emma seemed to be enjoying her time as well because she just had a big smile on her face while recording the little ones. – This whole thing was just a sight for sore eyes, it made things feel real, like they were a real family, not only connected by blood but also by a deep emotional bound. A bound that Regina would completely consider to have as long as it benefits her son more than herself.

“Reginaaa, it’s already past three.” Kat informed as she popped out her head from the mansion.

Regina looked over her shoulder at her friend. “Alright, prepare the cake.”

Kathryn went to prepare the cake as Regina was reuniting everybody around a larger table with the all snacks. - It didn’t take long for everything be set and ready to sing for the birthday boy, but Mal knew something was missing to make everything perfect.

“Dear, why don’t you go stand there besides your boy and his mother.” Mal suggested as she was now talking to Emma who was still holding the camera, and Mal was holding her other crutch, finally not holding a drink.

“Well, I, huh-“ Emma wasn’t very sure how to respond to that. Should she really go? Would Regina be comfortable with that? Wouldn’t she prefer to just be there besides her son and help him out with blowing out the candles and cut the cake?

“Come on now, you are family. Plus, Regina has a weak wrist, so bring out your soldier strength and help your son cut that cake.” Mal smirked as she took the camera from Emma’s hand and handed her crutch.

Emma took the crutch and gulped before walk up to where Regina and Henry were, in the middle of the table in front of everybody and when brown eyes landed on her, the blonde simple showed a nervous smile, still not sure if she should be in this position yet.

Regina quickly gave her a reassuring smile and also full of happiness because she was glad that Emma decided to join them.

“Hey! Closer, closer!” Killian quickly told them as he stood behind Mal and taking a look at the small screen attached to the camera.

The two women did what they were told and they were basically squeezing their sides against each other while standing behind Henry, who seemed to be tempted to just shove his hands in the cake but Regina was always making sure to move his hand away every time his fingers got too close.

“Okay! Good, smile!” Killian told them but it still took a bit because Mal was adjusting the settings for photograph so she could take a picture of them. 

Emma smiled at the camera and so did Henry because his aunt Kathryn was making silly faces for him. Regina smiled too but her view wasn’t on the camera, her eyes were on her son and on Emma, like she was very happy and proud of the family she had.

“Okay, time for the song!” Kathryn quickly said because she noticed Henry was starting to get impatient because he wanted to touch the cake and his mother wouldn’t allow him to. 

When everybody started singing, Henry seemed to be ready to throw a tantrum but Regina was quick to just pick him up from the chair and tuck him against her side. Then with her hands she suggested Emma to sit on the chair and the soldier did so without much thought because of her sore limb. When she was settled, Regina decided to put Henry over Emma’s lap, wondering if he would be fine like that and not carry on with his tantrum.

Emma wasn’t sure how to deal with him, because she noticed how much he moved on her lap, and she saw that tears were already forming in his eyes, so she decided to distract him again. She removed her dog tags from her neck and put it around Henry’s neck, letting him hold it with his tiny hands as he quickly seemed to get distracted by that. That seemed to also remind him about the cap he still wore because in a second he was touching it with his hand, like making sure he still had it.

“Happy Birthday, Henry!!” Everybody cheered at the same time and clapped. He looked up when his name was mentioned and the sound of the all claps got him clapping as well even though he still had one hand into a fist because he was holding the dog tags.

Emma was surprised how his moods changed so quickly but she was glad he was happy again. 

“Blow the candles, sweetheart.” Regina told her son as she placed her palm softly over his head and pointed at the candles. He knew what to do because Regina had actually taught him before how to blow candles. He did his best to blow them, hoping he’d get it done but Regina knew her son too well and knew he couldn’t do it well, so she secretly helped him and he seemed to get all excited when candles were out because he looked up at Emma and Regina with a big toothy smile.

“Good job, champ!” Emma cheered him as she tickled his side gently before Regina started wrapping her son’s small hand around the knife, and then leaned it to Emma so the woman would know she was the one helping out Henry to cut the cake. Emma instead of taking the knife just for her and Henry, she decided to wrap her strong hand around Regina and Henry’s as the three held the knife and cut the first slice of the cake. – Regina was surprised by that move but she did not protest, she seemed to find it very pleasing.

**......**

It didn’t take long for the party to slowly end after the cake and the gifts. Emma’s gift for Henry was actually a Svan scooter. She had a hard time finding the perfect gift but after getting help from some workers at the store and a lot of suggestions, she figured the best for him would be that Svan scooter. It seemed a cool thing for him and Emma remembers how annoying toddler’s toys can be because of the all sounds so her gift wouldn’t be noisy. Plus, she didn’t want to buy a colourful toy like must people would get him. – Henry seemed very satisfied with his toy but he didn’t play much with it because he was busy with the all others, he’d always get distracted by a new one.

After an hour or so, everybody was gone and the only ones left behind was Killian who actually found some lady that wasn’t married and decided to walk her up to her car. Then there was Regina, Kathryn, and Mal who were cleaning everything. Emma wanted to help them but she didn’t want to bother either. She knew with her prosthesis broken and using the two crutches wasn’t practical to walk around and clean everything, but she still decided to make herself useful by watching over Henry. 

It only took less than twenty minutes for everything to be clean. The only things left were to put the table inside but Killian was finally back from whatever he was doing and helped the ladies to put the table back in its place. – Then Regina went to check on Emma and on Henry and was surprised to find them asleep.

Emma was sitting on a chair with Henry sitting on her lap but with his front all laid over the blonde’s torso as he had his chubby arms squeezed between his tiny body and Emma’s. He was peacefully sleeping and so was Emma; and Regina just loved how even asleep the blonde had such a protective hold on Henry. 

She didn’t want to wake them up because they looked so peaceful, but she knew she had to put Henry in his crib and Emma probably had other things to do such has go back to Boston…and that’s when reality sank in. – Emma was going back to Boston; she didn’t live here in Storybrooke. She lived hours away and had her own life, a life that didn’t involve Henry or her. It was already a big accomplishment getting Emma to join Henry’s party and to have this lovely moment but Regina knew she couldn’t force Emma into anything and now it was all up to the soldier if she would stick around or not.

“Emma…” Regina softly whispered as she placed her palm over Emma’s shoulder and that seemed to startle the blonde from her sleep.

Emma slightly jumped in her seat and quickly tighten her grip on the tiny body over her lap. She always woke up like this because of her dreams but she was actually surprised that this nightmare wasn’t even that bad. “Regina...” Emma whispered in a tone like she was very relieved it was Regina’s face in front of her and not the war.

“I am sorry.” Regina quickly apologized. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Ah-you…you didn’t.” Emma forced a quick smile, not wanting to show weakness. “Seems little guy here fell asleep.” She quickly changed the subject.

“Oh yes, he did.” Regina smiled as she looked down at her son. “He just had the time of his life and now he is very tired.” She slowly picked him up and managed to hold him in a way that would still make him carry on with his sleep. “I’ll put him down. Give me a second.” She whispered before go back inside and noticed that Mal was sharing a glass of white wine with Killian who seemed to be doubting the taste and Kathryn was just watching everything like it was a comedy show.

While Regina was away, Emma eventually got back up and adjusted her position with her crutches as she sighed and thought about what to do next. The party was over, what was she going to do now? Go back to Boston? Carry on with her shitty life? Or stick around and try to find out where this would lead her? Could she even leave Henry behind? He was indeed having a good life with Regina but…the conversation she had with Peter replayed in her mind. She told him to not leave Wendy behind with a child. She gave him a great advice but Emma still wasn’t so sure if that advice would also apply to her because well...they were just so different.

Soon Regina was back and snapped her out of her thoughts. “Thank you for coming, Emma.”

Emma turned around and looked at Regina with a small smile. “It was my pleasure. The party was pretty great.”

“Well thank you. I wanted to do something good for Henry because he’s getting older and pays more attention to these kinds of moments now.”

“Yea, it was a great thing you did. That kid is going to have dreams about this for few days.” Emma chuckled lowly.

“I hope so.” Regina smiled.

Now Emma gripped tightly onto her crutches because silence was invading their atmosphere again and it only made things more awkward and heavy. 

“So I-“

“Will yo-“

They both let out a nervous chuckle at that. “Please, go first.” Emma told her.

“No, I insist, you go.”

“Okay then...” Emma took a deep breath a she looked away nervously for a second. “I think…I am going to stay for a week.” She tried no to stutter.

“You mean...” Regina looked a bit stunned at her. “You are going to stay in Storybrooke for a week?”

“Yea.” Emma pressed her lips together. “I will be honest with you. I-I really…I really don’t know what to do but…I am giving it a try.” She looked up at the brunette with an upside down frown. “I want to know what’s the best thing to do and I…I think it’s best if I stick around and see how things goes.”

Regina was a bit speechless, she was actually going to ask Emma if she was leaving to Boston now. She was going to demand an answer, a yes or no, to be in Henry’s life and right now what Emma was giving her was a ‘maybe’.

“I am sorry, but I really don’t know how to deal with this!” Emma quickly said, feeling like she just gave Regina the wrong idea and the other woman was about to quickly turn her down. “This is all new for me, Regina, please understand that…and I want to do the best thing here, I really do, but I need to know how.” The begging was silent, but it was there.

Regina snapped out of it because Emma was right. The blonde just got news all of sudden and Regina couldn’t demand things just like that. She had to let Emma get adjusted to Henry, she had to let them create some kind of bound but she hoped nothing too strong because she didn’t want her son to suffer later on if Emma decided to not be part of his life. 

“I understand.” Regina muttered as she put on a small smile. “I think what you are doing right now it’s the right thing for now. I will be very pleased to know you will stay around for few more days, so you can spend more time with Henry.”

Emma felt a lot relieved when Regina agreed with her and she was very glad that this wasn’t going to turn into an argument. “Thank you.” Emma sincerely said.   
Regina nodded at her as she kept her smile. “There’s actually a Bed & Breakfast around here, I can give you directions if you wish.”

“Yes, of course. That would be great.” 

“Swan! Yer ready to go?” Killian finally showed up, it seems he had his fun with Mal and Kathryn but he was right about that white wine, it wasn’t his thing and he was never going to get near to it again.

Emma looked up to find her friend walking up to her. “Yes, but I am actually staying around for few days.”

Killian looked slightly confused at her. “Oookey...Do ye want me to tag along?”

“No need, but I will need a big favour. I need you to go to Boston and get me some stuff from my apartment.” She told him with a hopeful smile.

“Sure, no problem. I can drop by here again tomorrow morning with yer things.” Killian shrugged.

“Wonderful!” Emma grinned at him as her eyes landed on Regina. “Thank you for having us over, Regina.”

“It was my pleasure. I am glad you two enjoyed this as well despite being a toddler party.” She chuckled lowly.

“It got me a lady’s number!” Killian pointed out with a big proud smirk.

Emma just rolled her eyes and smacked his leg with her crutch. “So about those directions?”


	7. Mommy Ingrid

**Granny’s Bed and Breakfast – Sunday**

_It was cold…Emma was very cold and she didn’t know why her mother took her out of the bed while she was sleeping and brought her up to the roof of the dirty cheap apartments. – Still Emma gasped in awe when she saw beautiful stars and the full moon._

_“Look love bug…do you remember your super-heroes?” Ingrid asked between subtle sobs as she kneeled in front of a five-year-old Emma._

_The child wasn’t aware of the problem but she knew tears was never good. “Huh, Super Man?” She softly asked as bright green eyes looked up at the blonde woman in front of her._

_“Yes, Super Man!” She smiled brightly as tears rolled down over her cheeks while she caressed Emma’s pale still baby skin with the back of her hand. “Super Man can fly, right?”_

_Emma nodded as a smile spread across her face. “Yes! He’s super cool!” She exclaimed and slightly jumped on her spot._

_“Indeed, he is.” Ingrid mumbled with a nod as she kept staring at green orbs, like she was trying to leave a message. “Don’t you wish to be like him?”_

_“Hell yea!” Emma kept showing her excitement; thinking perhaps her happiness would make her mother happy as well._

_“Language, sweetheart.” Ingrid softly scolded as she rubbed Emma’s chest. “What if I tell you…we can fly…”_

_“Sorry.” Emma mumbled, ready to feel bad about being scolded but the older woman still kept her motherly touch. “We can fly?” Emma curiously asked with her small mouth in a shaped ‘o’. “That’s so awesome!”_

_“Yes, it is, love bug.” Ingrid agreed and let out a throaty chuckle as the tears kept falling like a waterfall and her hands were shaking. “Let’s try it now.” She stood up and took Emma’s small hand as they both approached the edge of the roof._

_“Huh, I am scared, Mommy…we can fall.” Emma mumbled with a pout as she uncomfortably stepped forward along with her mother._

_“It’s alright sweetheart. Everything will be okay after this, you will see.”_

* * *

“Swan, yer in there?” Killian asked from the hallway as he knocked on the door. The old lady informed him this was the room his friend would be in.

Emma shifted over the bed but carried on with her sleep.

* * *

_“Are you crazy, Ingrid?!” James shouted as he snatched Emma’s small body from Ingrid’s grip._

_“No, you can’t do this. You can’t take her away from me!” Ingrid shouted back with a shaky tone as she looked at her ex-husband holding her child._

_“You are completely nuts! This is why she can’t be with you!” James accused while keeping Emma behind him. “You are mentally ill and you can’t take care of a child, Ingrid.”_

_“Shut up! I am not!” She said it mostly to herself because she had to keep believing that. “You don’t even care for her! You never wanted a child and you never liked her, you don’t know how to take care of her.”_

_“I wanted my own child, not some foster kid that would only be a burden.” James stated and Emma watched everything unfold in front of her. She was completely lost, she didn’t know what was going on and she didn’t understand what kind of argument they were having._

_“You can’t send her back!” Ingrid almost begged but instead of taking closer steps to them, she was just slowly stepping back. “Emma’s place is with her mother. I’ve taken care of her for three years…” The woman’s voice was getting lower as she kept stepping away._

_“Daddy?” Emma called out for him as she reached out to grab his hand but he just moved his hand away which made the little girl pout and lower her hand._

_“Shut up.” James huffed out when he heard the child’s voice. “Get back here, Ingrid. We can solve this. We can send her back and have our own children.”_

_“No…no, we can’t.” Ingrid smiled sadly as a loud sob escaped her lips. Her blue eyes landed on Emma’s small figure as she kept her smile. “I love you so much, love bug…and I am very sorry for this. I wish I could be stronger for you, but remember Emma, you are very special, never doubt that.” And that would be her last words._

* * *

“She didn’t fly!” Emma screamed as her upper body lunged forward while her left hand gripped onto the fabric of her tank-top.

“Swan!? Hey! Are ye okay?!” Killian asked in a worried tone as he even tried to open the locked door.

Emma breathed heavily and finally seemed to settle down in reality. It was just a dream… She told herself while calming her own breathing. It wasn’t exactly just a dream, it was a memory, an awful memory that haunted her time to time and it seemed to never leave her alone. 

“Open the door, Ems!” Her friend’s voice and brutish moves on the door made Emma snap out of it and she get up to open the door before he burst it.

“Wait.” Emma grumbled while getting out of the bed and using the crutches to help her walk to the door and unlock it. “Don’t destroy the door, please. It looks old so it’s probably expensive.” Emma told him with a tired tone as she stepped aside to let him in.

“Bloody hell…I was worried about ye, mate!” Killian complained and felt like punching her arm if he didn’t notice she was holding the crutches. 

“I was sleeping, Jones.” She explained him as she slowly leaned against the wall, her body was still waking up.

Killian just eyed the blonde woman because if she was sleeping then he knew her scream was from a nightmare and he would not comment about that because nightmares was something everybody had, especially them. It was demons that decided to haunt them. “Well, I get yer stuff.” He pointed down at three boxes with the things she requested.

“Really? Thank you so much, man.” At least she would have more casual clothes, a decent prosthesis and all her medicine. “What time is it?”

“It’s seven sharp now.” The soldier informed her as he looked down at the dark watch on his left wrist.

Emma perked up an eyebrow and looked at him rather surprised that he was back from Boston at this hour. It only meant something was keeping him awake. 

“I’ll have to go soon. Yer not the only one who has to deal with family.” Killian let out a dry chuckle as he started to carry the boxes inside and put them closer to the bed. 

“Oh? What happened? Your mother decided to divorce your father again?” She mocked.

“Hey! It’s not funny! They always involve me in their shit!” He groaned before rolling his eyes. “She’s almost seventy, why the bloody hell does she wants a divorce now?” 

“Maybe she found a good cougar dating website.” 

“I am this close to beat ye up, Swan!” Killian complained again as he pointed at her.

“I’d like to see you try.” She flashed him a cocky grin as she pointed back at him but using one of her crutches. 

“They just need rum and everything will be alright.” He pointed out before putting down the last box inside. “Well, that’s it, Swan. All of the stuff ye wanted are in there.” 

“Thanks, man. You were really helpful.” She approached him to give him a handshake and a one arm hug because of the crutches.

“Ye welcome.” He hugged her as well and patted her back. “Good luck with the boy, Ems. Hope ye get something good out of this.” He sincerely told her and showed her a quick forced smile because things were getting too ‘touchy’ for him. 

Emma looked up at her friend and actually felt good about his support. They both didn’t know how to show their emotions very well, so her smile was just as forced as his.

“Anyway.” He cleared his throat. “Time to go and fix a marriage!” He faked his happiness and walked out of the room as Emma walked after him.

“Good luck with that.” She stayed by the door, not daring to step outside because she didn’t want anybody to see her…well without her leg. “I’ll see you soon then.”

“Yea, see ya!” They said their farewells and both went with their lives.

Or at least Killian did.

Emma just dropped herself over the bed as things were sinking in again. That dream…it was such a painful memory. She spent years without knowing what really happened, what every word between her foster parents meant but once she was more aware of this world she understood how much she was unwanted by that man and how much she was wanted by her foster mother but the woman wasn’t strong enough to carry on.

Emma doesn’t remember much other than that tragic moment, but she remembered how James was never around and it was only her and Ingrid; she thought Ingrid was really her mother till James gave her a dose of reality and revealed her everything then obviously sent her back to the foster system.

She was actually found by Ingrid’s sister, Helga. The woman was nice enough to take care of her but it didn’t take more than six months for a tragic car accident to end her life. Emma was once again in the foster system and she only got out with the help of Gerda, which was another sister of Ingrid’s; but the lady couldn’t adopt Emma because she had her own children. 

So, she searched for help from other family members and that’s when she bumped into David which was James twin brother, she was conflicted at first because she didn’t know if she should trust the man but after several meetings and a lot of discussions they both decided the best for Emma would be having a life at the military academy. A place where she would always be stable and wouldn’t be jumping around in careless foster families. – That’s why David and her always had such strong bound and Emma was very grateful for everything he did and for Gerda as well, but she was never strong enough to meet that woman because it would bring old demons she didn’t want to deal with. 

Has Emma ever dealt with this? No, she did not. There was still lot of questions she wanted to be answered to get her closure. Could she ever get them? Probably not. Facing those old demons would make her feel like that five-year-old orphan child again; she would be helpless.

“Snap out of it.” She scolded herself and smacked her fist against her own head but nothing too severe. The images were craved in her mind.

Emma quickly began to look through her boxes to find her medication and hoped that Killian didn’t forget any behind. _Sertraline, one hundred mg; Paroxetine, forty mg; Fluoxetine, forty mg._ She repeated the names of the meds and the dosage as she looked through the boxes, once she found them she was quick to just skip to the bathroom with one leg and take right dosage even though she hesitated a bit because she was giving a second thought about taking the higher dosage. 

Once that was done the soldier leaned against the wall and allowed her body to slowly slid down so she could sit on the ground. She hugged herself and started to control her own breathing so she could start calming down.

It always took a while for her to really start the day.

* * *

**Granny’s Diner**

After two hours, Emma was back to the best sane state she could be and into some pair of blue jeans and a flannel shirt underneath a dark jacket. She was already having her breakfast while reading this city’s newspaper; a very boring newspaper. – She had received a text from Regina, almost one hour ago. The mayor wanted to see if the soldier wanted to meet up for breakfast and Emma agreed and was actually glad that Regina was the first one to text her.

Now with that thought in mind she quickly looked down at the table and noticed that she had already started eating her breakfast. Oh come on… She scolded herself for forgetting that she should’ve waited for Regina so they could both eat their breakfasts together. – It was just weird for her to have breakfast so late or wait for somebody to eat it with her. She was used to schedules, strict schedules, so she had a certain hour to have breakfast and certain minutes to finish it.

Should she just leave it like that and wait? Or should she eat it all and make the waitress clean the table so when Regina gets back there will be no evidence? And then have two breakfasts? Wouldn’t that be too much?

While Emma debated on what she was going to do, Regina and Henry were stepping inside the diner. Henry was in his dark blue jeans, white shirt with blue strips and some dark cute sneakers. Regina was wearing a wine coloured blouse tucked inside a pencil skirt and dark high heel shoes. 

Henry seemed to be awful excited this morning and full of energy so it was no wonder he just began to run through the diner and go to the high chairs attached to the counter; he was trying to get on top of one because it always entertained him how high he could be in there and how he could see what was happening behind the counter.

“Not there, sweetheart.” Regina told him as she grabbed his hand and keep him from adventuring with the chairs. “Today we will eat with Emma.” Henry looked up at his mother, not sure what that exactly meant but when they started walking to the booth where Emma was, the little boy quickly smiled and let go of his mother’s hand to clumsily run towards the blonde soldier and do his best to tackle her in some way.

Emma was leaned all the way back on her seat and still staring at the food, Henry basically threw his upper body over her lap. - It startled her. The boy scared the shit out of her and she was extremely glad her reflexes instead of saying ‘hit what is attacking you’ they told her ‘quickly back away’ and that’s what she did.

“Henry.” Regina’s voice was into a scolding tone when she noticed that her son scared Emma, even though it wasn’t his intention. Henry just chuckled and looked up at Emma, now having his arms over the empty space on the booth that was where Emma was sitting before jump to the other side.

Emma looked up and saw Regina approaching her and that was when she seemed to finally calm down because the people in front of her were just Henry and Regina. “Oh hey there, buddy.” She awkwardly greeted him with a small smile.

Henry quickly climbed over the booth before his mother could get him. “Hii!” He waved his tiny hand at Emma and got himself comfortable in his seat. It seemed he decided he wanted to sit beside Emma and not across her.

“Good morning.” Regina said with a smile as she seated across them.

“Good morning, Regina.” Emma greeted the other woman with a smile. 

“Sorry about Henry. He’s full of energy today.” She informed as she watched how her son appeared to be awfully comfortable with sitting beside Emma.

“It’s fine.” Emma gave a quick tight smile before looking down at Henry as she reached out to rub his back, but still hesitant about her moves when it came to him. 

“What’s gonna be, Madam Mayor?” Ruby asked as she stood in front of the booth with a hand on her hip.

“I’d like some pancakes and an apple cut into slices for Henry and then just my usual.” Regina told the waitress as the younger brunette just nodded at the order and went to do her job.

When Emma saw Ruby before she had to admit it was hard to not stare because of the way she dressed, so she wasn’t really surprised with Killian’s excitement while he described her. She was indeed beautiful and very sexy.

“Now you understand why your friend was so pumped when he saw her.” Regina commented when she noticed that Emma’s eyes followed Ruby.

“I don’t blame him.” Emma looked back at Regina. “But it would be too much sand for his truck.” She chuckled at her own words and so did Regina.

Before their conversation could flow more, Henry decided to ramble about everything and nothing. Honestly, Emma had no clue of what he was really saying but Regina seemed to be talking to him just through her eyes; it was like she was encouraging him to carry on with his words even if they made no sense at all but time to time the brunette mother would correct some words she understood and try to build a decent conversation with her toddler son.

Emma was just watching everything and she found it beautiful the way Regina easily interacted with Henry, but their moment didn’t last long because Regina’s phone began to ring and she excused herself to pick up the call. However, Henry still carried on with his talking and he was now looking up at Emma and he seemed to be asking her something, she didn’t understand a single thing he said, really. She knew he was asking her something because of his tone and the way he moved his hands but she didn’t know what.  
Either way she decided to join him so she was literally saying yes to everything he said or ‘and then what’ or just nod her head and make noises. At some point, Emma was sure Henry didn’t have a real purpose with this conversation and he was probably just testing out his vocabulary or whatever toddlers really did.

Recent mother and son didn’t notice they weren’t alone anymore; Regina’s call had ended and she was walking back to the booth and Ruby was back with the food. “Wow, do you really understand him?” Ruby asked with a smile as she placed down the plate with the pancakes and apple in front of Henry and then a dark coffee on the opposite side of the table where Regina was seated before.

“Huh…honestly, not really.” She gave a sheepish smile as she watched Regina sitting back down on the booth. “But he understands us, I think.” Emma frowned slightly, and put on a thinking but mostly confused expression. “He does, right?” She asked Regina.

“Yes, he does, dear.” Regina replayed with a small chuckle and a goofy smile appeared across her face. Emma was terribly adorable around Henry. “It can be hard to understand him sometimes but he easily picks up adult conversations, it actually surprises me.” She explained.

“Like that one time, I was arguing with Granny because of the keys that we couldn’t find. Henry just walked up to us and gave us the keys.” Ruby said as she smiled brightly at the little boy and ruffled his dark hair. “Even though I still think he took it when we weren’t looking before giving it back.” 

Henry looked up at Ruby with a big smile and now messy hair. “Perhaps.” Regina shrugged as she remembered that day.

“Well, enjoy your meal, ladies and gentleman.” Ruby squeezed Henry’s chubby cheek before go back to work.

“That’s your usual?” Emma finally decided to ask because she couldn’t believe Regina was just going to have a coffee for breakfast.

Regina was rather taken back by Emma’s question so she looked up, clueless, at the other woman. “Uh, yes?”

“How come your breakfast is just a coffee?” The soldier wrinkled her nose at that as she looked down at the drink.

“Is that so bad?”

“You need a proper breakfast, Regina.” Emma told her as she decided to push her plate to the middle of the table. She was having toast. “At least have a bit of this while you drink your coffee.” 

“Oh no, I am not going to eat your breakfast.” Regina declined as she began to feed Henry so he wouldn’t make much of a mess. “I’m fine with just a coffee.”

“Well, you shouldn’t. It’s not healthy.” Emma pointed out.

“Are you “momming” me?” She perked up an eyebrow and looked at Emma with a smirk.

“Is that even a real word?” Emma confusedly asked before focusing back on the point of their conversation. “Just have one piece.” She pointed down at her plate.

Regina looked down at the toast and had to admit this whole conversation made her feel hungry for it. “Fine.” She finally took a piece of it and a bite, her stomach seemed to be very pleased and perhaps from now on she would consider having more than a coffee for breakfast. - Emma just smiled in victory and watched the other woman eating.

It didn’t take long for the adults to be done with their breakfast but Henry seemed to fight against filling more his stomach. Regina knew how much he could eat in the morning and she knew he had to finish his entire plate but he was just taking his sweet time on chewing the slice of apple his hands have been holding for almost five minutes now.

“I am going to the bathroom.” Regina stated before leaving the booth.

Emma was now alone with Henry and he was still slowly chewing the apple. Emma grabbed the fork with the bit of pancake still attached to it and decided to play with the fork like it was a plane. That seemed to work, at least that’s what she saw on the movies.

Henry watched the fork and heard the noises Emma was making with her mouth, that seemed to get him very interested. Emma softly poked his lips with the pancake, wondering if he would open his mouth, the first time he didn’t, so she carried on with the play before approach the fork again to his mouth and successfully made him open his mouth and take the pancake.

Emma was extremely thrilled and actually proud of herself that she managed to get him to eat. So she happily continued to feed him and it didn’t take long for him to finish it all.

Regina was actually watching everything as she stayed at the back of the diner.

“Look at that, the mayor being a creepy stalker.” Granny commented as she walked up behind the brunette woman.

Regina jumped slightly, startled by Granny’s actions. “I am not stalking…I am just watching.”

“Mhm.” Granny smirked. “Just go enjoy the family moment, Regina.” The older woman pressed her palm against Regina’s back and forced her to get out of her hiding spot.

Regina gave Granny a look but decided to not say anything. “You all done, my little prince?” She said with a smile as she approached the booth and looked down at her son who was already getting out of the booth to walk up to his mother.

“He ate it all.” Emma answered as she flashed Regina a quick smile, hoping she did the right thing here.

Regina just gave Emma a thankful look and then began to wipe Henry’s hands and mouth with the baby wipes she always carried in her purse.

While the mother was busy with her son Emma decided to go pay for their breakfasts, this way they wouldn’t have the typical discussing of who pays the check.

“You got a pretty family.” Ruby commented with a grin as she was counting the change to give it to the client.

“Huh?” Emma looked a bit clueless at the waitress before glancing back over her shoulder and saw how loving Regina was cleaning Henry’s hands and mouth and also fixing his hair. “Yea…” She mumbled the reply because she wasn’t quite sure if she should call it her family yet. The sound of it was terrifying actually, it sounded great but it also sounded like the scariest thing out there. Emma was never used to a family, she never had a decent one and the thought of having one now gave her tons of mixed feelings. She hoped to sort them all out after few days.

“Here ya go.” Ruby gave her the change and smiled brightly. “Have a fun Sunday with the little monkey and the mayor, soldier.”

Emma took the change and kept a polite expression for the waitress but then she got very suspicious when the other woman said ‘soldier’.

“Small town.” She shrugged. “Everybody knows everything about everyone.” Those words seemed to make Emma uncomfortable and Ruby could read panic on the blonde’s face. “Don’t worry, you will get used to it. Plus, the Mayor is a very private person so I’m sure you and your lady won’t have much dirty gossip going on.” She ended her words with a chuckle before carrying on with her work.

And Emma now realized this waitress wasn’t the usual type of person you meet; she was bold and very forward, well that’s what her job required but still. 

“Ruby, the check, please.” Regina called out for the waitress.

“Your woman took care of it, Madam Mayor.” Ruby responded rather loudly because she wasn’t close to the counter anymore and her words made a few people look at them.

Emma felt like the spotlight was on her and she didn’t enjoy it one a bit, especially at how she literally felt her cheeks warm up after Ruby’s words.

Regina awkwardly cleared her throat as she tucked Henry against her left hip. “Do you want to go for a walk?” She asked with a smile, hoping that Emma would say yes and they could spend more time together.

“Yea, sure, absolutely.” Emma was quick because she was still uncomfortable about what just had happen and she couldn’t wait to get out of there. The room seemed to be shrinking. 

Regina gestured for Emma to head out first and she took this moment to also give Ruby a look and the younger brunette just gave the best innocent expression she could pull off before winking at her.

Emma was already outside, taking as much as fresh air as she could while her hands fidgeted with the edges of her jacket. She was desperate for a cigarette and she had it right in the pocket of her jeans but she knew she couldn’t because of Henry.

Regina soon joined her and she couldn’t totally understand why Emma seemed to be so tense and bothered. So perhaps a good walk would be the best thing to distract her. “Shall we go?” Regina said first before get closer.

“Yup.” Emma forced a quick smile as both woman started to walk.

Their walking was calm and quiet, Regina was trying to find topics they could talk about while Emma was scolding herself for feeling like this. It annoyed her so much how just one simple moment could make her body develop drastic physical and emotional changes. She actually felt stupid for feeling like this because of Ruby’s words and she simply couldn’t let it go.

“Can you hold Henry’s hand?” Regina decided to ask, wondering if the little boy’s touch would be helpful to calm her down. She wasn’t total aware of Emma’s mental state or of everything that this soldier went through but she was determined to find out more and she would totally start reading articles that could be relatable to the assumptions she has of Emma’s mental health.

Emma snapped out of it and looked at her side to find Henry walking between them. “Sure.” She answered and carefully reached out for Henry’s hands. She wondered if he would just allow her to take his hand, he’d probably snatch it away, right? But he didn’t. He happily took Emma’s hand and looked up just to show her a small smile. It was like he knew the struggle she was going through and he was letting her know that everything was okay.

“So, how are you feeling today?” Regina asked, more concerned about her leg but she didn’t want to be so forward and make Emma more uncomfortable.

“Great.” Emma answered her as she was now walking with her view down on Henry, she was interested at how his expression changed every time he saw something that intrigued him. “Killian dropped by this morning and left the things I asked him.”

“That’s wonderful. Is he still in town?” Regina was looking at Emma and rather surprised at how Emma watched Henry. 

“Nah, his parents are at it again. They are basically two old people who are constantly saying they hate each other and they want divorce but they also don’t want to be alone and deep down they love each other.” Emma chuckled as she remembered few holidays that she spent with Killian’s family. It was a crazy place but things were even crazier with August and all his sisters, nephews, nieces and cousins, total big family. The only family she noticed it was less crazy it was Jefferson’s but his twins time to time would pull off a stunt that usually ended by pranking their other dad.

Regina laughed along with Emma because she could just picture older versions of Killian. “Well, that’s when you know it’s true love.” 

“I don’t know if it’s true love, but it’s indeed something.”

* * *

**Granny’s Bed & Breakfast**

Later that night Emma was laying on her bed and staring up at the dark ceiling of her room since the lights were off. The day with Regina and Henry went good, they had breakfast together, went for a walk and even played a bit at the park with Henry. Emma was sure they would’ve spent the entire day together if she didn’t chicken out.

Yes, at some point, Emma Swan decided she wanted to get away and lock herself in the rented room for the rest of the day. Not completely sure what made her feel like this but that was what she wanted and that was what she got. Only now she regretted that choice but it was already two in the morning and she was still wide awake.

The pictures of the happy small moments she had with Regina and Henry were being replaced by the pictures of her foster mother, Ingrid. 

She missed her…she was the only real mother she ever had and Emma hated everything about how her brain only made her remember about the bad moments and not the good ones. – It wasn’t fair. Ingrid didn’t deserve such a fate, from what Emma knows she was just a wonderful woman and had nothing but love to give, and that fucker James decided to ruin everything. Emma hated him with every strength she had, in her mind that man, made Ingrid kill herself and it’s because of him she never had that chance of being in a real family for a long term.

Who knew how her life would have turned out…Perhaps she would’ve gone to college and have a well-paid job; perhaps she wouldn’t have been so fucked up like she is now. Ingrid seemed to be the person that was going to give Emma her best shot and Emma would’ve been the child that become a healthy adult and not some fucked up soldier with a leg prosthesis and PTSD and whatever more mental issues she had, because honestly she was tired of the all diagnoses the therapists gave her.

Emma groaned in frustration and sat up on the bed as she looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand beside the bed. It was so late and she was still awake but the date was what her eyes were more focused on. It was that time of the year again. In two days it will be twenty-five years since Ingrid died and that would explain why Emma was more out of herself than usual. - She wanted to remember the happy memories she had with Ingrid but the only memories she was having was that awful suicide right in front of her, but she did have some small glimpses of how Ingrid smiled at her and how they played in the backyard. So Emma had to just hold onto those tiny flashes of memories and try to have a dream this night instead of a nightmare.


	8. Tantrums

**Granny’s Diner – Monday**

Emma kept to her schedule. She did everything this morning like yesterday and the only thing that changed from her usual morning routine was a text from Regina. She was surprised at the hour she got the text but was glad that they were going to have breakfast together again, and this time it fit her schedule right.

So, she comfortably sat in the same booth from yesterday and waited. The beautiful legged waitress passed by, wondering if Emma was ready to order but she said she was waiting for somebody and the soldier was sure the waitress knew exactly who she was waiting for because of the smirk she flashed her.

It didn’t take long for Regina to arrive and approach the booth where Emma was. “Good morning, Emma.” The woman politely greeted.

Emma quickly looked up when she heard familiar sounds that were the clicking noise of Regina’s heels against the ground; and there she was, in a wonderful dark pantsuit that looked so feminine and appealing on her. “Good morning.” She greeted back with a smile and was preparing herself for the ball of energy that Henry can be but it seems this morning he was less energetic. He was tucked against Regina’s left side and with his head over her chest as he calmly sucked on his pacifier. 

Regina noticed that Emma’s eyes were on Henry now and she was sure the other woman never seen the lazy and needy side of the toddler. “Henry decided that this morning he would go into a lazy mode.” The brunette informed as she placed her purse on the seat and then used her both hands to put Henry down but the very moment she tried to remove him from her personal space, he just started to whimper in complaint and grabbed onto her clothes. “And very needy.” She finished those words with a sigh and managed to sit down while still having Henry against her hip. Needless to say what a struggle it was to just get him in a sitting position over her lap.

Emma kept her smile and didn’t notice how forced it was becoming. She never seen Henry like that. In her eyes Henry was this boy who was always energetic and ready to mingle with any adult (since he seemed to be less social around the other toddlers) but today he was just…weird, at least that’s how she thought and probably the best word she could think of to describe him. 

“It’s okay.” Well, toddlers can have bad days too, right? Emma can’t judge because she had better days as well and today wasn’t that easy to get out of bed. In fact, it was Regina’s text that gave her the motivation to get out of her room.

Ruby was once again back and this time left with the orders noted. While they waited for the food, Regina tried to make conversation with Emma. It wasn’t easy, it felt more awkward than usual and now Regina noticed that her son wasn’t the only one waking up on the wrong side of the crib, well, bed. – Either way, Regina didn’t comment about it and carried on with their conversation that only lasted five minutes. She was very thankful when Ruby came back with their food. At least their mouth’s would be full with food and that would be an excuse to not say anything.

She also kept herself distracted with feeding Henry, at least on the food part he wasn’t fighting much. She even wondered if Emma wanted to feed him like she did yesterday, but the soldier made no move at all or even a simple glance at the boy’s plate. – Regina had enough of the silence, so she decided to break it.

“So, what do you have planned for today?”

“Hmn, I don’t know.” Emma just shrugged as she shoved a pancake in her mouth and looked up at the window while chewing.

Regina found it odd that there was no eye contact, well, it wasn’t like Emma ever really made a decent eye contact before, but at least she would be looking at her face. However, this time, Emma is being very distant.

“Well what about exploring the town?” She suggested as she grabbed the small plastic fork to feed her son. 

“Maybe.” She replayed still chewing on her food but then swallowed. “That isn’t a bad idea.” She added and drank a bit of her juice.

“Well, it’s a small town. It won’t take long to see most of it.” Regina informed as she looked down at Henry to see if he wasn’t getting dirty. “There isn’t much to keep yourself entertained.”

“I guess.” Emma had to admit she didn’t feel like herself today and she knew the very moment she stepped out of this diner, she’d just go straight back to the rented room and spend the rest hours of her day there. Remember, keep yourself busy, she reminded herself and tried to think about something to do. If she kept herself busy, she wouldn’t be dealing with depressing thoughts, but if she just goes exploring the town on her own, she will still be focused on her own world and that will ruin her. So, she needed more to keep her distracted. “I was thinking that maybe I could…”

Regina’s attention quickly went back to Emma because the blonde was finally speaking more than five words. “Yes?”

The soldier wasn’t quite sure how to ask this from Regina because she still thought it wasn’t her place to, but she had to try. “Well, what if I spend some time with Henry? Like bonding time, or something…” The volume of her voice started to lower after the question because she was feeling nervous and awkward with what she was asking for.

The request was indeed a surprise for Regina. It was a pleasant one because it meant Emma wanted to spend more time with Henry and then it would be easy to tell if she wanted to stick around or not. The only down part about this is that Regina has to let Henry go. It’s never easy for her because she always shielded him from the world and leaving him with Kat or Mal even made her feel sad and uncomfortable. He’s her little baby and it’s always hard when she isn’t around him. “That isn’t a…bad idea.” – But in order for Emma to bond more with Henry, Regina had to give them a little space.

“Yea?” Emma quickly got a small smile on her face because the thought of her spending time with Henry actually cheered her up. “So you don’t mind?”

“I think it’s exactly what you two need. “ Regina said as she gave Emma a smile and then looked down at her son. It would help her not have Henry around today because busy with work and had a lot of meeting. The only problem would be how Henry would feel about not having his mother around today. It isn’t usually a problem because when he isn’t with her, he’s with Mal or Kat and he adores his ‘aunties’ but will he be willing to just go with Emma and not make a fuss? Today, he is indeed needier than usual.

“There’s some kid’s park or something like that around here, right?” Emma asked with a curious expression. 

“There’s one park where the kids usually play. He loves the swings there.” The brunette informed as she wiped Henry’s mouth clean with the napkin.

“Great, so it’s settled.” 

Finally feeling her mood changing for the best, Emma kept her smile and quickly got up to go pay their breakfast. Regina tried to stop her but it was already too late and once again the blonde noticed the smirk the waitress was giving her and this time even looked at Regina and back at her. Emma was sure she was talking with her eyes and whatever she was saying couldn’t be decent. 

“Where are you headed now?” Emma asked as she was now outside with Henry and Regina.

“To my office. I’ve lot of work to do today.” Regina answered as she adjusted Henry better on her side. He was still glued to her.

“Can I keep you company? Then the champ and I can go to the park.” She suggested as she shoved her hands inside the pockets of her red leather jacket.

“Yes, of course.”

* * *

**Mayor’s Office**

“In his bag there’s diapers, pack of baby wipes, his water, his snack, another pacifier and some new clothes, just in case.” Regina stated as she was looking through Henry’s small blue bag that was over her desk as she still held him against her side.

“Got it.” Emma nodded and looked at the bag. It was a cute bag and she was thankful it wasn’t too ridiculously cute. 

“There’s also his blanket. If he ever gets tired and wants to sleep that usually works, but it’d be wonderful if you keep him awake and busy or else his sleeping schedule today will be messed up.” She could remember the last time Kat decided it was okay to let Henry sleep the entire day and obviously the only person who suffered with that decision was Regina because Henry kept her awake all night.

“Alright.” Emma swallowed feeling already a bit of pressure. Was the sleeping schedule really that important? 

“Okay, here we go.” Regina finally turned around to face Emma and approached the taller woman. “Henry, sweetheart. It’s time for you to go have fun with Emma.” She informed her child, still aware that he didn’t fully understood what she said but this was the way to make him develop. 

Emma licked her dry lips and awkwardly stretched out her arms, ready to hold Henry. “Hey, big boy.” She did her best to sound calm and cheerful as she noticed at how he didn’t jump at her right away.

Regina was removing herself from his grip and finally pass him to Emma’s hands. Henry started to whimper, not wanting to let go of his mother but after settling down few more seconds in Emma’s arms he seemed to start calming down. At least the whimper was lower and he stopped trying to get out of the soldier’s hold.

“He’ll be fine.” Regina said, mostly to assure herself because she was also not completely ready for this, just like Emma. – She grabbed Henry’s bag and slipped it through Emma’s left arm to let it hang over her shoulder. “I hope you two have fun and if you need anything or if something happens just call me, okay?” She reminded Emma and looked straight into green eyes, clearly showing the slight fear she had with her motherly side. 

“Yes, of course. Don’t worry.” Emma gave her a reassuring smile and then watched Regina pecking Henry’s forehead, saying her goodbye but it seems that only made him remember he wanted to be back in his mother’s arms, so he started to whimper again.

“Okay, you better go now.” Regina told her as she was putting the pacifier back in the toddler’s mouth. “Don’t forget to call me.”

Emma slowly and awkwardly rocked Henry in her arms, wondering if that would help. “Alright, I’ll see you at lunch time then.” 

The goodbyes were rushed because Henry seemed ready to scream and neither of the two women wanted that to happen, so Emma left quickly the office and Regina could still hear her child’s whimper. It was a hard hearing that sound and not having to rush up to him and see what he needs; but he’s with Emma now and he’ll be fine. At least, that’s what Regina hopes and that’s the thought she will keep in mind to go through her day.

* * *

**Park**

Leaving Regina’s office was also hard for Emma because Henry carried on with his little cry and Emma wasn’t sure on what to do but once she was outside of the building, Henry’s bright eyes started to look around at everything and the only thing that really and completely stopped his whimpering was the bus passing by. He seemed to enjoy it very much because even if Emma carried on with her walking, he had turned around on her arms to look over her shoulder and see the bus driving away. 

Eventually they arrived at the park thanks to Regina’s directions, and some stranger’s as well because Emma had forgot a part of the brunette’s explanation on how to get here. – Henry was finally showing signs that he wanted to use his own legs, so she put him down and before she could reach for his hand, he had already ran off to the swings.

“Henry.” She called out for him but it was no use. She rushed her way towards him and quickly grabbed his hand before he could get any further from her and dangerously close to the older boy on the swing. “You gotta put a break on your little feet, kid.” 

Henry stopped running because he was now focused on watching the older boy on the swing, but then he finally remembered he also wanted to do that so he tried to remove his hand from Emma’s. When he couldn’t accomplish that, he started with his whimper again.

Emma looked down at him with a frown and pressed her lips together. He was very...diva? That wouldn’t be the right word but he was definitely demanding things to be done his way and when that didn’t happen he started to whimper. Emma just hoped that he would drop that attitude soon because she really doesn’t know how to deal with that. She doesn’t even know how to deal with his normal attitude. 

“Okay, let’s get you on the swing.” She picked him up and walked up to the proper swing that was for his age. After sliding him in and making sure he was ready to go she finally gave a light push on the swing. That gained her a cheerful chuckle from Henry and that was the sound she was dying to hear because that was the happy Henry she was used to.  
Henry really seemed to love the swings because the smile would never left his face. Emma was paying more attention on her moves than on his expressions but she could tell he was happy because of the casual sounds of his chuckle. – At some point you would think that the toddler wanted to play with anything else but he did not. He wanted to stay at the swings and Emma frankly was getting bored of pushing him. 

She also noticed some glares from other mothers because they wanted their child to play at the swing too. Should she convince Henry to play other thing? Perhaps that was the best idea because the other kids also deserved to have fun at the swings. Okay, here we go… Emma mentally prepared herself as she slowly stopped the swing and then got in front of the child. “Hey, buddy. Let’s try the slide, okay?” She told him and removed him from the swing.

It wasn’t an easy task because Henry started to kick and move his arms the very moment he realized he wasn’t going to play with the swings anymore. He even started to scream, that high pitched annoying screams that children always have. Emma was taken back by that, she even froze in front of the swing while holding him tightly, in order to not make him fall from her arms. – Why was Henry acting up like that? He wasn’t like that the past days she spent with him, but the reality is that she only spent one day and half with him, so she doesn’t know anything about the child. 

Emma finally snapped out of it when she saw another toddler literally tackle the swing. “Henry, please stop.” She silently begged as she walked away from the swings, still holding a moody Henry. He moved so much on her arms that she almost dropped him. – Emma walked up to the slide and decided to put him on top of it, waiting for him to calm down his tantrum and he quickly did because he suddenly sat down and pushed himself forward to slide down.

Well, she was surprised at the sudden mood change but very thankful he finally stopped the all fuss.

When he was back on the ground, he quickly ran up to Emma and stretched out his arms for her to pick him up. “Pane! Pane!” 

Emma perked up an eyebrow at the word he was using but then she suddenly remembered their play back at his birthday party. “Oh, you want the plane?” She picked him up and pretended he was a plane flying by holding him up high and moving him around before place him on top of the slide and let him have his fun with it again.

This play and this attitude from Henry she could easily deal with because it was simple and easy to manage. Now fingers-crossed he’d stay like that till they meet Regina for lunch.

* * *

**Regina’s Office**

“Mommy.” Henry quickly said when he saw the office door and then looked at Emma who was holding him.

Emma was surprised that Henry knew that behind this door would be his mother but perhaps he has been spending too much time in here to know that this is where his mother works. “Yes, kid.” Emma told him with a small chuckle and then knocked on the door. When she got the permission to step inside, she opened the door and could only take three steps inside before Henry used his little lungs again.

“Mommy!” He cheerfully called out for her and launched himself forward making Emma almost lose her grip on him but she managed to still hold him before put him back on the ground.

“My little prince.” Regina smiled brightly when she heard her son calling out for her. She approached the little one before squat down to pick him up. “I missed you!” She said in a different tone; a very happy and thin tone. 

Emma closed the office’s door behind her and watched how happy Henry was to be back in his mother’s arms and at how Regina seemed to check every inch of the toddler’s body, to see if he was at the same state as he was before he left this office. – It was actually wonderful watching the interacting because Regina acted like she hasn’t seen him for years and Henry just happily snuggled himself against her. It was clear the two had a strong bond and Regina loved the child to death. Emma was happy that Henry got such wonderful mother, he’d have everything she never did. He’d have the most important thing for somebody’s life. A loving parent. 

“Hi.” Emma cleared her throat before greeting as she finally approached the two brunettes. “He’s back in one piece.” She joked.

Regina adjusted her child against her side and looked up at Emma still with the same smile she held for Henry. “I see that. Did you two have fun? How was it?” Regina wanted to know what they did because she was curious if they really played, or if they really enjoyed their time together. She couldn’t exactly ask that to her recent two-year-old son.

“Yup. He played with the swings and the slide. Also there was these weird tubes at the park where kids crawled into it. It was epic, he crawled so fast.” Emma showed pure excitement in her voice when she mentioned the tubes because she had to admit that it made her remember some of her military training. - Did she picture little Henry with a military uniform? Yes, she did and it was the cutest mental image she could ever have.

“Oh really? That sounds wonderful.” Her smile got brighter when she looked down at Henry who was now playing with her necklace. “Did he behave? Did you get any troubles?”

“Everything was neat.” Emma quickly answered and placed her palms behind her back as she secretly and nervously played with her own fingers. She wasn’t going to mention that she couldn’t manage well a cranky and bossy Henry; or at how his screams literally bothered the crap out of her. She just had to remind herself that toddlers were complicated and she had to get used to it.

“That’s good.” Regina was still in delight that her son was back to her that she didn’t notice Emma’s nervousness. “We should head to the Granny’s now and have lunch.”

“Huh, sure.” Emma agreed, pleased that she could still spend more time with them.

Regina held Henry against her left side with her left hand, then picked up three flyers with her free hand and at the same time tried to reach out for her purse. Emma noticing that, decided to be a gentleman, well gentleperson, and picked up Regina’s purse. “I got it.” She mumbled those words and showed Regina a quick timid smile before turning her head away and awkwardly look at some wall of the office.

Regina just tried to hide the smirk that was forming across her face. “Let’s go then.”

* * *

**Granny’s Diner**

When the three stepped inside the building the first thing they noticed was Ruby leaning all over the balcony towards a petite brunette that was on the other side. They kissed and when Ruby was about to hold the other woman’s face to give her a deeper kiss, Granny’s voice stopped her. 

“Ruby Lucas, if I have to stop you from eating your girlfriend’s face again, you will have to find another job!” Granny shouted as she placed the food over the table behind the balcony, waiting for Ruby to give it to the client and get back to work.

Ruby winced and sighed out after hearing her grandmother’s warning. “Alright! Granny flipping today, Belle.” She complained to her girlfriend and then went to pick up the plate but before she could actually do her job she stopped right beside the petite brunette and wrapped her free arm around her waist to tug her close. “I’ll see if she lets me out sooner today. Then I can meet you at the library, ok?” Ruby grinned and leaned forward, ready to kiss Belle again but she was stopped by a flying wet dirty cloth against her face.

“Ruby!!” Granny shouted once again at her granddaughter. When was this child going to do her job?!

“Augh, gross!” Ruby groaned and threw the cloth back over the balcony. Belle was trying to remain with a neutral expression but they keep changing from ‘busted’, to embarrassed, to ‘I am going to have fun with my girlfriend later’, and then to a small chuckle because the bickering between the two Lucas women was actually a fun thing to watch. 

“You should do your job now.” Belle told her and gently caressed her arm before peck her cheek. “I’ll see you later at the library. Even if Granny doesn’t let you out sooner, I’ll still be there. Waiting for you.” After saying those words, she mumbled a goodbye to her girlfriend and turned around to leave the diner but only after showing a polite smile to the mayor and the soldier.

Ruby kept her smirk as she watched Belle leaving and she only didn’t watch more of her girlfriend’s backside because of the already judgmental glares from the mayor and confused ones from the soldier. “Hello, ladies! Here again for lunch?” She smiled brightly at them, getting ready to get back to work but only after having a little chit chat with the two women.

“Yes. I’d like my usual Ruby and then a carrot soup for Henry.” Regina ordered before looking over her shoulder at Emma. 

“Oh, I’ll have some burger with fries.” Emma quickly ordered because it was the only one she could remember seeing at the menu paper. 

“Got it. What have you two been up this morning?” Ruby was extremely curious about whatever was going on between Regina and Emma. She wanted to know more and nobody could exactly blame her because it isn’t every day the Mayor’s son’s other parent is a soldier, Storybrooke doesn’t have many people in the military that live there. 

The only thing Granny did this time was just clear her throat out loud, loud enough for Ruby and almost everybody in the diner to hear. Basically reminding the tall brunette to get back to work.

“Granny woke up in terrible mood this morning.” Ruby mumbled those words before walking up to the table that was waiting for their food for a while now because Ruby kept stalling. 

Emma just confusedly looked at Regina wondering if this happened every day and all Regina could do was show an apologetic smile while trying to not laugh. It was just another day at the Granny’s and Emma was going to face more moments like this.

Regina walked up to an empty booth and sat down with Henry on her side and the flyers over the table. The toddler wasn’t demanding to be so close to his mother anymore and that was a good thing. Emma followed Regina but when they reached the booth, she realized it wasn’t the same as this morning or yesterday. For some reason she felt very uneasy sitting on that booth but when her eyes searched for the one she was using lately she noticed it was occupied so this one would have to do.

“Do you want your car, Henry?” Regina asked as she looked down at a flyer.

“Yes!” He excitedly replayed and slightly jumped on his seat.

Regina still kept her eyes on the flyer because she was reading something important. “Emma, dear, do you mind giving Henry his toy car? It’s in my purse.”

Emma snapped out of her thoughts and curiously looked at Regina. She sounded very domestic with her request. “Yes, sure.” Looking through the brunette’s purse wasn’t something that Emma was entirely comfortable with it because as much as she tried to not be too curious. The only thing that made her smile was the sight of Regina’s lipstick in the purse. Obviously she had to carry it around because it was impossible to keep her lips so perfect through the entire day without retouching it time to time. 

Whenever she found the toy, she quickly took it out and hand it to the little boy who was eager to play with it. “Car!” He happily pointed out and grabbed his toy before start playing with it over the table.

“Yes, sweetheart, it’s a car. What noise does the car make?” Regina asked her son as she now looked through another flyer.

“Vruum, vruum!” Henry answered his mother and then chuckled as he moved his car over the table back and forth.

“That’s right.” Regina finally stopped looking at the papers to turn her head around and smile at her child before pecking his head softly.

And now Emma realized that Regina was teaching him. She couldn’t forget parenting also involved lot of teaching. Henry needed a good vocabulary and Regina was always there to feed him knowledge. Emma could never understand how you can teach a baby to speak but Regina did it just fine like every other good parent around the world. Maybe it wasn’t that hard.

“Ladies and little man. Here’s your meal.” Ruby announced several minutes later as she approached the table with the tray that held their food. She first put the carrot soup in front of Henry but more to the middle so he wouldn’t feel bold enough to touch the hot bowl; then she put the burger and fries in front of Emma and finally placed down the plate of salad in front of Regina. “The drinks. Apple juice?” Ruby suggested.

“Yummy!” Henry was the first one to replay when he heard the two words ‘apple juice’. Of course the little one loved it. His reply made the three women laugh at his cuteness before they all agreed apple juice would be fine.

“Aren’t you silly.” Regina grinned down at her child as she softly poked his tummy.

“No, mommy!” He giggled and tried to push her hand away from him.

**......**

Eventually they started to eat and they all seemed very pleased with their choice. – Obviously the first person to finish the meal was Emma because she wasn’t constantly stopping herself from eating to feed Henry. “Do you want me to feed him?” Emma asked, still with an obvious uncertain tone.

“Will you? That would be helpful.” Regina said with a smile as she picked up Henry and rose him up from his seat so she could pass him to Emma over the table.

“Ookay.” Emma managed to grab Henry from Regina’s hands and get him settled over her lap before grab the bowl and pull it towards her as Regina grabbed the opposite side of the bowl and pushed it towards the blonde. “Let’s eat, champ.” Emma mumbled as she grabbed the plastic spoon and tilted her head down to see if she was feeding him the right way and not get him dirty.

Regina now could easily eat her salad but she still took her time because she was enjoying watching Emma feed Henry. It was adorable, and this time she wasn’t hiding in the back room from Granny’s. This time she was right in front of them and it was even cuter. 

But at some point Henry decided he didn’t want to eat more of his soup so he’d close his mouth when Emma tried to feed him and that made a bit of the soup fall from the spoon but thankfully it landed over the bib Regina had placed around her son’s neck. “You don’t want more?” Emma mumbled as she tried to remove the rest of soup that was over his bib with the now empty spoon.

“Henry, you still have to eat a bit more.” Regina told her son as she was finishing her salad.

“Nooe. You!” He then quickly turned around over Emma’s lap and looked up as he pointed his tiny finger at her. “You, eat.” 

Emma perked up an eyebrow at him, wondering if he was really telling her to eat his soup. “You want me to eat your soup, kid?”

“You, eat.” He repeated himself and then took the spoon from Emma’s hand before shove it inside the bowl, ready to bring it up.

Regina knew exactly how this was going to end so she quickly grabbed her child’s hand before he could remove the spoon from the bowl. She wasn’t going to clean another Henry’s mess at the Granny’s. “No, baby. It’s your soup, so you have to eat it. Not Emma.”

“No!” He complained but let go of the spoon. “You, you.” He patted Emma’s torso, still demanding for Emma to eat his soup.

Emma didn’t know if she should find this funny or keep a serious face and deny the request; but she also feared he’d throw a tantrum like he did at the park, so perhaps doing what he asked was the best thing right now. “Okay, kid. Hold up.” She told him before look up and search through the diner for Ruby and when she spotted the waitress she mumbled the words ‘another spoon’ and the tall brunette quickly nodded.

Regina was curious about what Emma was going to do next. So needless to say it was very surprising that Emma really ate the soup after Ruby gave her the spoon she asked for.

“See, it’s good.” She said after taking a full spoon of the soup and Henry just watched her, still not completely buying it. “Yumm, good.” She carried on with the play, wondering if that would get him. When the silly smile finally showed across his face, Regina knew he’d continue to eat. So, she grabbed the plastic spoon and brought it up to his lips as he happily took the spoon full of soup.

“You are really silly; aren’t you buddy?” Emma chuckled as she watched how Henry simply continued eating but he started demanding again for her to eat before Regina could feed him another spoon. So Emma obeyed and only after eating a bit of the soup, Henry finally accepted his brunette mother attempts of feeding him.

**…**

This day took few unexpected turns for Emma and new moods from Henry that she wasn’t used to, but it was the best way she could learn what it meant to be a mother. It was also the best thing she ever did to escape the thoughts that haunted her mind every day. Regina and Henry did that, they helped her, especially Henry. He was the best medicine she ever had. 


	9. Not Always an Orphan

**Granny’s Bed &Breakfast ******

There are days you wake up and you have to literally force yourself to get out of the bed and get ready for the day ahead. It’s not an easy feeling to deal with, so you’d rather just close your eyes again and sleep through the entire day just so you don’t have to go through the emotional battle you face every day.

And that kind of day was the same Emma has been dealing with. Since she stopped working, she had too much free time and she completely hated it. Free time meant spending time with herself and that meant thinking too much. She hates it because she knows. She knows how ‘fucked up’ (like she usually states) she is and she knows if she goes through another day with nothing to do and spend time with her own mind she will go insane.

Obviously the first days off the battlefield were all about her recovery and all her time in the hospital. Then they were all about anger, she was angry with the world and angry with herself at how things turned out, so that led to a lot of conflicts between her friends and herself.

Then it was all about self-pity, making her spend nights in bars and drink the pain away, but one thing was for sure: she only slept twice on some bench or hidden corner because the all other times that she was too drunk to get home, Killian was there for her. The other days were about just not existing at all; she locked herself in her place and waited for time just go by without bothering to do anything but once again Killian decided enough was enough and he put a stop to that.

Killian was the one who made her snap out of it. He was the one who helped through the tough process; even though he picked some weird ways to do it, involving lots of yelling and sometimes even physical fights between them. Either way, it worked and Emma managed to settle a schedule and work better on her physical and mental state. The only thing that was missing in her routine was more psychological support. She did have had a lot of psychiatrist support but that only resulted on meds and very little talking; which was completely okay for her because she hated opening up, however, having the right psychologist was something she needed and still needs. Especially now. 

It is Emma’s fault for not seeking the help she needed but truth to be told, she was never aware of how badly her mental state was and her pride won’t allow her ever to admit that she needs more help. The medicine can’t be the only thing that will help her carry on. Because sooner or later she will completely explode and she won’t be able to come back from that.

And honestly she’s having a breakdown right now. 

She locked herself in the room and refused to make any contact with anybody. That’s why by now she had two messages and two missing calls from Regina. What gave Emma the courage to read those texts was couple glasses of whiskey.

**First Text at 08:10am:** _Good morning, Emma. I was wondering if you wanted to have breakfast at the diner again?_

**Second Text at 09:56am:** _Since you have not replied to my first text, I hope you are okay. If you just overslept, then you can come to my office and pick up Henry for another playground time? That’s if you want. - Let me know._

**_(Phone Ringing)_ – Regina**

Now the phone was ringing and Emma stared a bit at the arrow to slide to answer but she never did it and simply threw the phone on the bed. Three missing calls from Regina now and it was five o’clock PM. Four empty beer bottles and one bottle of whiskey almost empty. Then there were the several containers of her pills all over her bed because in the morning, she was about to take them till her stupid mind decided alcohol was the best thing. However, at least her brain was smart enough to not mix both pills and alcohol.  
Emma just huffed out and leaned her head back to rest over the edge of the bed as she began to rub her limb as painful memories started to invade her brain but they weren’t related to the loss of her leg. They were related to somebody that spent the first years of her life with her. Somebody who adored her and would’ve done anything for her. Somebody who was her mother.

* * *

**Regina’s Mansion**

Regina sighed out as her third call once again wasn’t answered by Emma Swan. She didn’t know why the blonde wasn’t showing any signs that she was around but she also didn’t want to demand too much from somebody who still isn’t sure if she will be part of her life. 

Regina thought that Emma was really trying and really enjoying her time with Henry. Hell, they looked the most adorable mother and son yesterday at Granny’s but now…Emma wasn’t answering. It felt a bit like Sunday when they were having a blast but all of sudden Emma’s mood changed and she hurried everything up to end their bonding moment and left. Regina knew that she shouldn’t question much of Emma’s behaviour because it’s obvious the soldier has some issues she needs to work on and not everybody’s the same.  
However, this time she had a bad feeling. Emma should’ve said something by now, even just a small text that could say she wasn’t feeling good today, just anything that could let Regina know that Emma was okay but she just wasn’t in the mood to socialize today. So this lack of communication between them was really making the brunette feel worried and uneasy.

Henry didn’t seem affected by anything because he was happily sucking on his pacifier while holding his blanket underneath his head that was placed over his mother’s lap. They were just having a relaxing time in her bedroom, over the bed and watching some cartoons from a toddler channel. 

As Regina stared down at her phone and the all calls, she moved her thumb up scrolling all the way down, just out of boredom. But then her eyes spotted out a number that had no caller ID and she wondered who had she called. It couldn’t be anything doing with her mayor duty because she always uses the phone of her office. That’s when it clicked in her brain and she remembered about borrowing her phone to Emma to call Killian. Maybe he knew more about Emma. Maybe he could tell her if Emma was okay and just didn’t feel like talking.

Regina thought a lot about actually contacting Killian. She didn’t want to sound too demanding because Emma doesn’t owe her anything, right? But they do share a son…and the blonde said she wanted to bond more with Henry. So perhaps texting Killian wouldn’t look that bad. – With her mind made up, she texted Killian about Emma’s whereabouts and then placed her phone over the nightstand beside her bed.

“Duck!” Henry’s answered as he paid extremely attention to the cartoons’ question.

Regina smiled at her son’s word and looked down at him with his head over her lap. She passed his hand through his brown hair that was already getting too long for him, but taking this boy to cut his hair was a nightmare. His first haircut was a couple of months after his first birthday and he did his best to show how powerful his lungs could be with all that loud crying. 

It was a bit traumatizing for Regina because at some point she didn’t know if her son was feeling pain. She even carefully watched the hairstylist hands to make sure she wasn’t hurting her child but everything was just fine so maybe Henry was feeling scared. So she spent her time trying to distract him from what was really happening but that still didn’t stop him from crying the whole process, there were just single minutes he stopped crying but then remembered his mission was to throw a tantrum and went back at it.

That experience certainly isn’t something that Regina is looking forward but Henry’s hair grows fast and it’s already covering a bit of his eyes. He actually looks cute like that and since he has Emma’s straight hair there isn’t messy curls everywhere like Regina’s hair when she was his age. 

The sound of a new message sounded in the bedroom with only TV noises. Regina picked up her phone from the nightstand with a little bit of hope it was Emma’s reply but it was Killian’s.

_Hello Regina. It is no bother. I haven’t heard from Ems since I left that tiny town but I will call her now and see whats happening. Text you in a bit._

Regina pressed her lips together and let out a heavy sigh because not even Killian knew about Emma but since he was about to look through it she just had to hope that Emma would talk to Killian and then he could let her know if the soldier was alright or not.

“Well…” Regina looked back down at her son while putting her phone away. “…let’s put you in some comfortable pyjamas, Henry.” Regina told him as she made him sit up on her bed so she could get up. They were still in their outside clothes because Regina still expected Emma to contact her and they could spend time together but now it’s already too late and she has no more expectations. – Pushing those thoughts aside she reached out for her child to pick him up but once Henry realized that his mother was walking out of the bedroom he quickly groaned.

“Nooee, TV!” He complained and began to wiggle in her arms as he even let his pacifier drop on the ground.

“Henry, we will watch that after we get you in pyjamas.” Regina told him as she carried on with her walking but then he started to scream and struggle too much in her arms. “Hey, hey. Stop that. Mommy will let you watch TV after we are done changing you. Got it?” Regina said with a frown as she looked at Henry’s face to make sure he was paying attention to her.

Henry looked at his mother with a frown and a big pout before clumsily fold his arms in front of his small chest and look down with watery eyes. He was ready to throw a tantrum but he also knew his mother didn’t appreciate it so he decided against it.

Regina just rolled her eyes with a sigh and pecked his forehead to let him know it was okay but she still wasn’t going to take back her words so they went to his bedroom to change his clothes.

* * *

**Granny’s Bed &Breakfast**

Killian eventually opted to just go back to Storybrooke to check on Emma because his friend wouldn’t answer to any his spam texts or calls. He also let Regina know he still hasn’t gotten hold of Emma but for her to not sweat it because he will take care of it. – He’s actually glad that Regina decided to reach out for him because it was obvious Emma was very emotional lately. Only the people who knew her best could tell she was a ticking bomb.

Killian and she had a deal that involved Emma always replying to his texts or pick up his calls. They made this deal when she was in a dark place and he wanted to make sure she’d be always alright even if he wasn’t around. That deal still wasn’t off even if things with Emma seemed to improve. – Killian took almost four hours to arrive in Storybrooke and it was already midnight and he still hasn’t heard anything from Emma. Something happened and Killian was going to find it out.

He started by knocking the door of her room as much as he could. He even overdid it because an old man from another room opened his door and looked at Killian with a judgmental glare. “Sorry.” Killian quickly apologized but that still didn’t stop him from continuously knocking, hoping that Emma would get annoyed with the all noise and just open the freaking door, but she didn’t. “Goddamnit, Swan. Just open the bloody door.” He groaned and continued banging on it.

“Hey!” Granny called out for the male soldier as she was walking through the hallway in her white robe and blue slippers. “Keep it down, will you? People are sleeping.”  
Killian eyed the older woman as he sighed out. “My mate just won’t open the door. I am worried about her, aye? Do ye have some master key?” He asked as he pointed at the door in front of him.

Granny knew exactly who this man was and who he was here for so she knew that the best thing to do was to just open the door so they could know if the Mayor’s baby mama was alright and then her clients could carry on with their peaceful sleep. “Alright. Move over.” She told him as she removed the master key from the pocket of her robe and began to unlock the door. “But keep it down from now on.” She warned him again and walked away, too grumpy to gossip and too tired to stay up.

“Thanks, ma’am.” Killian nodded at the woman as she walked away and then fully pushed the door open and looked inside room. It was pitch dark, Emma probably closed the curtains. Killian eventually found the light switch and turned it on. The room finally had decent light in it and that’s when his eyes landed on Emma’s sleeping figure on the ground, empty bottles and pills over the bed. He thought the worse and easily freaked out. 

“Swan!” Killian shouted at her name as he ran up to where she was and quickly got on his knees. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. “Fuck.” He cursed under his breath and then just decided to shove his fingers inside Emma’s mouth to reach the back of her throat.

Emma gagged and woke up by the lack of oxygen as she quickly punched and pushed away the person that was holding her. “The hell?!” She tried to scream but it only came out as a gasp as she finally gained back her breath. That’s when she noticed it was Killian who was there with her. “The fuck you doing man?!” But she wasn’t happy to see him, not after what he did.

“Making ye puke that shit out!” Killian also tried to scream but his words came out interlaced in a painful groan because Emma hit him right in his nose.

“What shit?!” Emma was extremely confused as she rubbed her throat and looked at him with a still panicked expression.

“The! The alcohol! And the pills!” Killian told her as he now looked at his palm wondering if his nose was bleeding but thank god it wasn’t. However, it hurt like a bitch. 

“I did not mixed alcohol with pills, you idiot!” Emma told him as she jammed the sole of her foot against the sole of his shoe. “I am not that stupid.” 

Now Killian really felt like an idiot but nobody could blame him for worrying so much for his friend. “Well, sorry, miss intelligence. A lad here just worrying about yer ass and ye complaining.” Killian argued as he finally stood up but still carefully wrapped his fingers around his nose, waiting for the damn pain go away. “That punch though.”

Emma rolled her eyes at Killian’s sass and slowly got up with the help of her bed but only to sit down because she wasn’t wearing her prosthesis. “You can’t jump on somebody like that.” She argued back with a frown.

“Yea well, I ain’t the freaking doc okay? Just using survival skills.” 

“God…” Emma groaned. “The hell you doing here anyway?”

“Ye didn’t reply to my texts or picked up my calls.” He explained her. “Remember about our deal? That thing isn’t over yet.” He reminded her with a bit judgmental look. “Also some brunette baby mama was worried about ye.”

That only made Emma groan even more as she threw her palms against her face. “I am not in the mood for people, that’s all.” 

“Yea, I figured. But what about our deal, huh?” Killian folded his arms. “Ye still had to let me know and ye could’ve at least text Regina something.” 

“Honestly, Regina and Henry are the last thing I want to think about.” She mumbled those words before drop her hands down and look away.

Even if she said those words in a low volume, Killian was still able to hear them and he wasn’t happy. “The fuck, Swan? Why ye acting up like that now? Thought ye adored that boy.” 

Emma frowned as she thought if she should really open up with him, but everything is so much easier when you don’t have to explain anything. “It’s complicated, Killian.” She looked in his direction but she was only looking at the door behind him. “Just leave now. You know I am okay and I am not going to kill myself, so don’t worry. I just need time for myself.” 

“Hmn, no.”

“What do you mean no?” Emma quickly looked up at him with a frown wondering why the hell he was going against her wishes now.

“I want to know why ye said that about Henry and Regina.” Killian was very serious about this because he even replaced the words ‘boy’ and ‘baby mama’ for their names. 

“Killian. Leave.” Emma was now demanding as she clenched her fists.

“I am not going to leave, Swan.” He walked around the room to find a chair and when he did found it, he just casually sat on it and looked at Emma like they were just going to have a normal chit chat. “Talk.”

“You are not my freaking therapist.” 

“True. But ye don’t even have one, so.”

“Cut it out, Jones.” 

“No! If ye don’t want to open up to strangers that’s one thing but ye are going to talk to me!” Killian raised his voice to let Emma know he wasn’t going to back down and that he was dead serious about this. He was so tired of watching Emma beat herself for everything that happened recently in her life and its finally time she just opens up for once in her life.

Emma stared into his blue eyes as they stayed quiet for a minute. It was in that minute of silence that Emma was going to decide if she should talk or not. Killian was proving to stick by his words but also show he was really worried about his friend.

“I don’t need any pep talk.” She stated.

“Fine, I won’t give ye one.” He simple agreed.

Emma licked her lips and looked around the room for a second as she took a deep breath, wondering how to approach this subject with Killian. “I wasn’t always an orphan.” She started and that easily caught Killian’s attention. 

“So ye had a family at some point?” He curiously asked because Emma had always told him she was an orphan since the day she born and she will always be one.

“Yes, I did.” Emma nodded as she continued. “I was indeed left on the road to die but then somebody found me and I spent my first year in an orphanage till a woman adopted me. Her name was Ingrid. She took care of me till I was five.”

“Then what happened?”

“She committed suicide.” Emma uneasily answered as she looked down at her lap and began to squeeze the fingertip of her index finger.

“Oh…wow, I am sorry.” Killian adjusted his position in his seat as he took a deep breath. Clearly he wasn’t expecting that.

“Yea.” Emma mumbled and then pressed her lips together. She really felt like shit happens so she could ignore these painful feelings but what happened to Ingrid can’t be compared to that. “After that I was put into the foster system. I spent couple of months with one family and then few with another one. It was actually Ingrid’s sister that found me. A very nice lady named Helga and she took care of me. It was heaven, really. She was very nice and I could see the resemblance between her and Ingrid. But obviously good things for me never last. She died six months later because of a car accident.”

“Well shit, Swan.” Killian was taken back by another tragic death. Emma really didn’t have the best “luck” out there and it was no wonder for him why there’s so much more issues for his friend to solve. Issues that have nothing to do with the war, nothing to do with the recent events in her life. It went way back in the past and she needed closure. 

“Mhm.” Emma rolled her shoulders as she was doing her best to not have a panic attack right now because talking about this to somebody was really a big thing for her. She never opened up about this, not even to David or Gerda which was Ingrid and Helga’s younger sister. Every time they talked to her when she was little, she’d just nod and quickly shut them down because the memories of how awful James was and the sight of her adoptive mother committing suicide right in front of her was just too much. “Then their younger sister found me, Gerda. She was nice too but you know…she lost two sisters and already had her own children who were less than five years old. - I think she couldn’t stand looking at me for too long either because I connected her more to the real truth in Ingrid’s life that nobody knew about.” 

It was a shock for everybody to find out James was the bad guy and that Ingrid was going through a big depression because of his all emotional abuse. Emma doesn’t know if he ever physical hurt Ingrid but he hurt Emma a lot. Not only physical but also emotionally. He gave her a big dose of reality and made her feel worthless; and she knows the only reason why he didn’t send her early back to the orphanage was because he didn’t want to look like the bad widower in front of Ingrid’s family and friends.

“What happened next? Ye stayed with her or what?” Killian carefully asked, not sure if he was picking the right words for this conversation they were having but he honestly didn’t know how else to talk about this.

Emma shook her head. “No.” She cleared her throat. “I mean, I stayed for like a month at her house but it wasn’t the same as Ingrid’s or Helga’s. I knew she couldn’t keep me and I was simply waiting for the day she sent me back, or waiting to see if something bad would happen to her like it had happen with the other two sisters. – Fortunately that never happened and then she found David.” 

“Chief David?”

“Yes.” 

They took few seconds to be silent and remember about David. Killian never had a strong bond with the Colonel like Emma did but he respected the man nonetheless. He was a good soldier and a good human being.

“They both decided the best for me was to stay at the military academy. I was eight when they made that decision. It was fine, really. I wasn’t very fond of the idea at first because it felt like being left behind all over again but this time David stayed. He was the one who was always there for me, he watched my whole process in the military academy. He was the closest I ever had as a father figure.” She admitted as she looked at the wall and flashbacks invaded her mind of her being at the military academy and spending her time with David. He was tough on her but he also knew when to be soft and give her the parental love she needed. 

“He was a great man.” Killian voiced his opinion as he licked his dry lips. 

“Yes, he was.” Emma nodded and then rubbed her face as she let out a heavy sigh. Her skin itched so much after this confession and she never fought so hard against a panic attack like she is now. 

“But…what about Henry and Regina? Yer going to stay, right?” Killian was glad that Emma opened up because it was clear this was something eating her up inside but he still wanted to connect the dots. He wanted to know if Emma was actually going to stay in Storybrooke for them or at least for the boy because giving high hopes for nothing was just cruel.

“I don’t know.” She mumbled and let out a sob as she was finally slowly breaking. “Today makes twenty-five years since Ingrid died and lately all I can think is about her and then I connect those memories with Henry and Regina and I don’t know anymore.” She was doing her best to keep her cries low but it was extremely hard to, especially now that her body started to shake. “It’s just too much, Killian.” She whispered and tried to curl up in her sitting position, so she could just hide from the world.

Killian frowned slightly as his heart ached to see his friend in such fragile and emotional state. He always took care of her and this time it wasn’t going to be any different. “Hey, Swan. Calm down.” He told her as he stood up and sat down on the bed besides her to wrap his strong arm around her and press her against his side. He was a bit unsure how to hold her or if he should even touch her. 

Emma leaned into his touch because it was a familiar one and even if she didn’t like to admit she needed to be held by somebody, she needed a shoulder to cry on. She needed to know she wasn’t alone. “I miss her. I miss her so bad. She was my mom.” Emma admitted between sobs and sniffs as she still kept her face pressed against Killian’s chest. The only good thing about this was that Emma finally realized she wasn’t an orphan all her life. She had people who loved her, she had people who was there for her as parental figures and sadly now they are gone. But she wasn’t always an orphan.

Killian just allowed Emma to cry it all out. He didn’t know what to say and figured there was nothing he could say to make things better. Plus, there were times when saying nothing at all is enough.

**......**

After few long minutes, Emma seemed to calm down, she was actually very quiet but Killian knew she was still awake because of her heavy breathing. “Hey, Swan. What do ye think about paying her a visit?” Killian suggested.

Emma frowned slightly and pulled her head back to look up at her friend with her eyes red. “What do you mean?”

Killian shrugged. “We can get in the car now and drive to the cemetery she’s at so ye can pay a visit.” It was just a suggestion and maybe it would make Emma feel better. Killian was just trying to help.

Emma was still confused about his suggestion but she knew he only meant good with it. “Well…” Perhaps paying a visit to Ingrid’s grave wouldn’t be that bad. She was only there twice. On the day of the funeral and then one time with Helga even though she knew the woman went every week to Ingrid’s grave along with Gerda. “That doesn’t sound so bad but it’s so late though.” She reminded him as she sniffed and finally pulled back from his hold.

“So? If we go now we can still come back before lunch time. Then ye can eat burgers with the little boy.” 

“Two year old’s don’t eat burgers, Jones.” She gave him a judging look.

“Well then eat whatever he eats.” Killian shrugged before stand up. “Shall we go?” He reached out for her prosthesis that was laying on the ground besides the nightstand.

“Yes, we can go.” Emma watched him reaching out for the prosthesis but she really didn’t feel like wearing it. “Let it be. I will use the crutches.” She told him as she rolled a bit on her bed to go get her crutches that was on the ground on the other side of the bed.

“Also, get clean. Yer all dirty.” Killian pointed out as he looked at how sweaty and dirty her tank-top looked. “I will be waiting for ye in the car.” And with that he simple left the room.

Emma now looked at herself, noticing that she really looked bad. The tank-top was sweaty but it also had stains of alcohol in it. She was really a mess but after this trip she’d take a good shower and snap out of it. - At least that’s what she hoped.


End file.
